Forgotten
by AriellaxCastral
Summary: "You could do nothing" The doctor said to him. He didn't like what he heard, but didn't mind it. She was just a replacement after all.
1. Chapter 1

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Summary: "You could do nothing" The doctor said to him. He didn't like what he heard, but didn't mind it. She was just a replacement after all.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I obviously do not own it.

* * *

FORGOTTEN

Sun has left the sky since hours ago. The hectic atmosphere of nightlife in Barcelona still went on. The road still filled with various vehicles, where people enjoyed their night activities. However, he did the opposite. He had just arrived in Barcelona this afternoon from Japan, and he was still tired. When he reached the bed on the hotel room for night stay, he slept in no time. Now he awoke and sat on a couch, faced the view outside the window. His mind wandered to the woman whom held a special place in his heart. He was too lost in his thought, not realized his sleep mate had woken up and stood behind him.

"I thought you're sleeping." She put her hand on his shoulder.

He turned to her, a woman with a slender figure whom now looked at him with sleepy eyes.

"Not really tired."

"Mind if I sit here?" She smiled a bit when he said no.

She sat beside him, tried to stifle her yawn while enjoying the view outside as well as his calming presence. Several moments later, he stood up then lay on the bed.

"You better sleep. We have to go at five o'clock and I don't want to hear any complaints about fatigue," he said from under his blanket. "We just have four more hours to rest."

She nodded without looking at him. She sat there until sleepiness hit her again then she joined him on bed.

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"How could you forget it?"

He couldn't hide the annoyed expression that clearly visible on his face, to the woman beside him. They were supposed to be on the way to Palermo right now, not some computer rental. Their driver sped up the car then took a deep right turn on the crossroad not far from the hotel.

"I don't know! I'm sure I had put it in my bag. Hey, watch out!" she shouted when they almost collide with the parked car in front of the small building, which was their destination.

At the right time, he braked and the car stopped suddenly, causing her head met the backside of seat in front of her.

"It hurts...."

She rubbed her forehead then walked out from the car, glanced at the annoyed man. He stayed on his position, not caring to go along. He was too pissed of because her forgetful trait troubled them again. Last time she did that, she almost burned their flat because she forgot to turn off the stove after cooking dinner. Now, she forgot to bring the report for Tsuna about their half-year mission in Hong Kong and Taiwan that finished two days ago. Thank God she brought the disc. It would be a big trouble if they attended the meeting with empty hand. They couldn't go back to Japan in another eight hours just to retrieve some papers. Finished the printing, she came back with black file on her hand.

"Is everything in there?" He asked pointing to the file.

She nodded before closed the door. The driver started the engine and they resumed the trip in silence, much to his pleasure.

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A/n: Short, crack, lame, name it. I just want to write something since I got stuck in a really boring and annoying situation today. Well, if someone like it, I'll post the next chap. If not, I'll kept it like this or maybe I'll delete it.


	2. Chapter 2

Title : Meeting and Girls' Talk

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibaxHaru, slight TsunaxKyoko

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I obviously do not own it.

Note = Italic : flashback

* * *

The clock showed 8.15 o'clock when the pair arrived on Vongola's base. Haru sighed in relief knowing they didn't late much since their driver, Alan, drove in a very high speed to catch up their lost time. Before went to the garage in the backside of the complex, Alan dropped them at the front door of the mansion. One black-suited man, whom they knew as Aldier, greeted the pair then escorted them to the meeting room.

"Your stuffs will be put in your room, Miss Haru." Aldier said when Haru asked him about their suitcases.

"Oh, thank you, then, Aldier-san."

Upon entering the room, everyone, whom already came, looked at the two from their seats. Haru was nervous when she and Hibari walked toward the table, with their friends' eyes on them. She was afraid that they, especially Tsuna, would angry at their lateness.

"Good morning, Sawada-san." Hibari greeted Tsuna when they faced the Vongola's Leader. "We apologize for coming late today."

He looked at them and smiled. "Good morning, Hibari and you, too, Haru. Well, don't be. The meeting is not start yet. Moreover, I'm happy to meet both of you again."

His serene smile gave relief to the woman because it meant he didn't angry. Hibari nodded at his words while Haru smiled widely.

"Thank you, Tsuna-san. We're happy to meet you, too." Haru bowed again then followed Hibari to their seats, among Lambo and Yamamoto.

"Good morning, Haru-nee." Lambo whispered to Haru when the woman sat beside him.

"Good morning, too, Lambo-kun." Haru winked and whispered back to the Thunder Guardian.

She then took out the file from her bag and put it on top of the table, as well as Hibari's file. They had to report the results of their last mission to Tsuna.

"Well, I believe we can start the meeting now since everyone already present."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Kyoko! Oww, I miss you so much!" Haru hugged the woman tightly when they met on Kyoko's room after the meeting finished at 12.45 PM, and before the lunch started.

"I miss you, too, Haru. It's been a long time since our last meet," Kyoko hugged back her sister-like friend. "How's the meeting with others?"

"It's as usual, we report the outcome of the missions, then discuss it together, then bla-bla-bla. Nothing's out of ordinary."

Kyoko smiled at her answer. Both of them then talked about each activity everyday and several interesting things they met and experiences until today. Secretly, Kyoko observed her friend. She was glad knowing Haru happy with her life right now. She remembered when she visited the brunette after heard about her separation with her last boyfriend two years ago. There were no tears but smile on her face.

"_I'm fine, Kyoko. It's just another usual broke-up, not a big problem." She said and laughed at her silliness._

Kyoko knew she lied that time but didn't say anything until now. She had heard from Bianchi how's that man treated Haru bad, mentally and physically. She maybe broken inside, but she kept her lips sealed and smiled as usual. Haru never shared her pain with others and she never cried in front of her friends. The last time she did cry in front of others was the time when her father died. As her vowed-sister, Kyoko always wondered why such a good woman like Haru never got a good man to become her dream prince. She then remembered their conversation when she had a sleepover with Haru, Bianchi and Chrome at the brunette house in their younger times.

"_And, now it's your turn to tell us about your man's criteria, Kyoko." Bianchi said at that time after she and Chrome told them __theirs._

"_Do I have to, Bianchi-san? I mean, I don't have any specific criteria like both of you have at first place." Kyoko confused, didn't know what to answer._

"_Of course you do have, Kyoko-chan! Girls always have their special criteria for the boys, whether they realize it or not. If the man doesn't meet her requirements, their relationship won't end with happiness. Isn't that right Chrome-chan?" Haru turned to the mist girl who looked as confuse as Kyoko._

"_I-I guess it is__," she answered timidly caused a big grin in Haru's face._

"_At least you could tell us what kind of personalities you expect from your man to have." Bianchi said with a small smile to calm Kyoko._

"_Mmm, okay. I think I want a modest, warm, and kind-hearted person, who loves his families and friends equally. __He also has a high sense of justice in him and treats the other the way they are supposed to be. And, if it possible, I want a him to have his own charismatic." _

_Kyoko stopped talking when she saw the expression of the girls._

"_He has the...same traits with…Boss." Chrome spoke after several minutes' silence._

"_Kyoko, I know you always have a heart to the boy." Bianchi sighed._

"_Wha-what? But I don't-." Haru cut Kyoko's words._

"_Don't worry, Kyoko__-chan! If Tsuna-san doesn't notice you, Haru would support you to get Tsuna-san's attention!" Haru held Kyoko's hand tightly._

"_Me-me, too. I'll help you." Chrome joined the group._

"_It settles then. Kyoko, if you need any help, we're always be here," Bianchi decided to end the Kyoko's turn. "Next, Haru. Tell us about yours."_

"_Hahi…It's ridiculous, but actually Haru wants her dream man, whom will be her soul mate, like a prince in those fairytales. You know, the handsome prince comes with his white horse to save the beautiful princess in the dangerous place. He will fight the enemy bravely with his sword on one hand, ensure the safety of the princess with his shield on the other hand, defeat the villain, then they lived happily ever after in their kingdom as a king and queen." Haru said with her face beamed with happiness. _

"_Really?" Kyoko asked unsure if that kind of man existed in this world._

"_Hahaha Haru's just kidding. As long as he is a nice, loyal, and responsible person, Haru would gladly accept him. The most important thing, he loves Haru and accepts Haru for who she is just as she to him. Haru's sure one day Haru will find him."_

That's why she was surprised when knowing Haru had a relationship with Hibari. She knew Hibari was a good person, despite his sadistic manner, and she found Haru's criteria on him. But, who's in Vongola family didn't know the relationship among The Cloud and The Mist? Although they're over now, Kyoko still worried it would trigger some problems between the three of them in the future. She didn't mean to interfere her friend's love life, but she afraid Haru would get hurt again. Nevertheless, as her best friend, all she could do now was supporting Haru's decision as best as she could. She would hate herself if she saw her hurt again.

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A/n: I'm not sure about this chapter, but it has to be put here before the real story begin. Thank you for Sweet Scrifice and KisaraCrystal for commenting this story. I was going to delete it before I read your comments :). Anyway, I hope you like this one and I appreciate any feedback from you, my dear reader :D.


	3. Chapter 3

Title : The Library

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibaxChrome

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I obviously do not own it.

Note =

'aaa' : Thought

"aaa" : talk

Italic : flashback

* * *

Hibari stood at library doorstep, watching the woman in the back corner of the room picked a book from a tall bookshelf. He had observed her, secretly, during the meeting. Over the years since he last met her, that woman didn't change much. Her medium-length hair still looked as soft as usual. She still used the indigo-colored polish on her finger nails. Who knew, maybe she applied it in her toe nails, too. She saw his standing figure.

'Did she smile at me?'

Well, yes or no, her smile still as usual. Shy but at one time could turn to a confident smirk. There were many of her to mention that didn't change. It seemed, both of them were just parted yesterday, and not two years ago. However, one thing bugged him since morning.

'Who gave her the ring?'

There was a gold ring adorned her right ring finger, in between her Vongola ring and her silver ring from her Kokuyou's friends. He knew that woman was not too fancy of jewelery, and she wouldn't spend her money on that thing. It had to be a gift from someone, whom he sure knew who the person was. Somehow, the thought that man gave the ring to her annoyed the Cloud.

'Damn! What am I thinking?'

Hibari pushed aside his worry and started to walk. He approached the woman whom now sat on an empty leather chair in the corner of the room, a red-covered book opened on her hands.

"What are you doing here?"

He stood not far from her that he could read the book title. Love Disillusions.

She didn't look at him. "I'm reading a book if you could see. May I ask what are you doing here? You aren't following me, are you?"

"What makes you think I'm following you?"

Hibari sat on the chair in front of her after picked a book titled Distraction.

"I just know it."

Chrome continued her reading while Hibari stared at every pages of the book in his hands. He didn't have any intention for reading after all. They stayed like that until Chrome finished half of her book. When she glanced at her watch, it was 1.55 PM. The party has started, and some of them would search her if she didn't show up. She stood up from her seat then put the book back on its place. When she wanted to turn around, Hibari stood behind her and trapped her between his hands so she couldn't move or go anywhere.

"Let me go, Hibari. It's not funny." Chrome stood there, still faced the bookshelf and her back against him.

"Who says it's funny?" He leaned down and whispered on her ear, "Chrome."

Chrome tried to walk away but his hands, which now were on her shoulders, limited her moves. "I do. And you didn't answer my question, by the way."

"What question? I don't remember you questioned me."

He still purred on her ear while his hands slowly trailed down her arms before stopped on her waist. It gave a strange sensation to the woman, but she didn't let it show. Instead, she warded of his hands.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, that. I answer it when I want to. Besides, I'm sure my reason is the same with you."

Chrome chuckled and now stood face-to-face with the raven-haired man. "What makes you sure about that? Hmph, too much confidence like always. You never change, Hibari."

Hibari looked at her with intense feelings. The burning emotion that grew since they met this morning now showed clearly and took over. Chrome was shocked when Hibari leaned down and kissed her lips. At first, it was a chaste kiss. The strange sensation came again to her.

'What is this feeling?'

As the seconds ticked away, it turned to passionate one that grew hotter, rougher, and deeper. Lips met lips, one's tongue fought with another's, and hands started to play, too. Chrome ran her fingers on his soft black hair as well as tried to deepen the kiss. One of Hibari's hands on her neck to keep her steady while the other rubbed her back and slowly down to her lower part.

"How do you feel, Chrome?"

She didn't say anything. Hibari smirked with her response and kissed her again, enjoying every second of the moment. However, the woman had different opinion. She was full with anger and hate. She was angry because the man before her, still an arrogant bastard as he was in the past. She hated him because he still had that control over her, that made her couldn't fight or resist him. She hated him because every kiss he did, filled her mind with their past memories. She hated him because he did this to her. However, she hated herself the most. Why? Because she liked what he did. She liked the rough, vicious, sometimes sweet kisses of him. She hated herself for enjoying their sinful affectionate moment. Suddenly, she remembered something.

_"Chrome-chan, you don't have to be alone anymore. We're family, right?"_

_"I'll protect you, Chrome, so you don't have to be afraid again. That's my promise."_

That lines shot her mind and kicked her senses back.

"Sto-stop it! Kyouya!"

Chrome ended the long kiss when the need of air came as well as her senses. She pushed him back, tried to control her breath, and prevented her tears to fall down. Hibari, whom slightly taken a back by the use of his first name, annoyed and little disappointed because they stopped just when he wanted to take it further.

"Why?"

She turned around. "It's wrong, Hibari. You and I both know well about this. We don't have that kind of relationship anymore. We're over!"

"Over? Really? But judging from our previous act-"

Chrome tensed when Hibari took a step towards her. "I said stop it! Don't you dare continue it, you understand?"

"What are you afraid of, Chrome? Is it him? Or her" Hibari kept walking until he could reach her hands.

She looked at him straight in the eyes. "I'm not afraid of them. I'm afraid to lose them."

Her answer surprised him. He never thought her answer would be like that. His hands fell to his sides and he silenced for a while. Many thoughts filled his mind this time.

"I understand, then."

He laughed before walked pass her and went out of the library. Chrome looked down, her body shook, and her tears now fell freely. She didn't understand why he became like that. Once, she believed he didn't change but now she knew. He wasn't the same Hibari she used to know.

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A/n : Two chapters in a week! I've never done that before....I don't know how to title the chapter, so I'm sorry for that and my lousy attempt in kissing scene (I really have no idea how to do that part...) and another. I'm also sorry for making them two OOC. Thank you again for those who had read and reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate that. I hope you could give me another point-out of my mistakes (or maybe some idea?). Although I'm not confident with this chapter, I hope you like this one. Thank you for reading :D !


	4. Chapter 4

Title : Garden

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: TsunaxKyoko

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I obviously do not own it.

Note =

'aaa' : Thought

"aaa" : talk

Italic : flashback

* * *

Tsuna held a small barbeque party on the back garden to celebrate the success of several missions and agreements done by his guardians and friends for the past year. Those could provide a great help for the family in the future as well as in the present. Hibari's mission, for example, ensured the cooperation of China's mafias with Vongola in case the Vongola needed their help when they had some business to do there. Or, Bianchi's mission to take care of the trade agreement which a noble family of Monaco offered them to. Overall, Tsuna pretty satisfied with the results, although some of it must ended with the presence of Vendicare. Right now, he wanted them to relax and to enjoy the party as he did now with Kyoko, enjoying a glass of wine under the shade of tree.

"Kyoko, do you know where Haru is? I haven't seen her since the meeting over. She also didn't appear on lunchtime." Tsuna asked the woman beside him.

Kyoko put her forefinger on her chin, tried to recall Haru's words to her. "Oh she said she had to buy something, so she went out to the nearest market. She had her lunch there."

"Is that okay? I mean, she's alone or not?" Worry plastered his face made his companion smiled.

"Don't worry. She will be fine and she is not alone. Why do you think she could survive those dangerous missions you give to her if she couldn't defend herself? Besides, if someone tries to do some really bad things to her that she can't handle alone, that person will have to deal with I-Pin." She said made him glad and relieved.

Both of them knew her capabilities very well and that's why some missions were perfect for her. She always smiled and finished the tasks, as best as she could, and Tsuna felt grateful for that. He remembered their phone conversation when she was hospitalized in one of her mission.

_"I didn't take this job based on sudden decision, Tsuna-san. I know the risk very well. Besides, it'll be finish next week."_

_"Yes, I know it, Haru. But I can't let you continue if it result in something like this."_

_She laughed softly at it. "Still have a soft heart, ne? Don't worry, I won't disappoint you."_

Although she didn't have any special feeling towards him anymore, they were still family and he would protect her as well as he to the others. Kyoko knew it as well since she considered Haru as her sister.

"I hope she didn't get into any trouble." Tsuna said to himself.

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I-Pin ran around the big market frantically, worry and scare filled her mind. She lost Haru after they strolled at one of the watch shop three hours ago. The last time I-Pin saw her was when Haru paid a silver pocket watch with long silver chain on the cashier. She herself was admiring the miniatures placed on the glass container along the store's wall. When she looked up, Haru was already gone. The cashier said that Haru went moments ago. Why she did not call her before she went out of the store?

"Haru-nee, please be safe." I-Pin mumbled tried to calm herself.

I-Pin had asked about Haru to her friends in the restaurant she worked as a part-timer, and other townspeople she recognized, but it returned zero. Didn't want to give up easily, she walked around again until the sun started to set and the road lamp lighted up. She glanced at her watch. It was 5.45. She walked to the big fountain in the park beside the market.

'Stupid me! What am I supposed to do now?'

She wanted to cry because she failed her task to accompany Haru. She couldn't bear the regret from herself and decided to accept any wrath from her boss and her friends, especially Hibari, if she still couldn't find Haru until the end of the day. She sat down and her hands gathered some water from the fountain to wash her face and to reduce her panic. Human couldn't think properly with their brain when they were in under-pressure condition.

'Calm down, I-Pin. You have to calm down now.'

When she calmed down and stood to start the search, she was confused when seeing a group of male with shady appearances gathered under a tree a little far from her place. They seem bullying someone whom lay in the ground in the middle of the group. She didn't know why, but something urged her to go there and that's what she did. With every step she took, it was getting clearly that the victim was a female. After she recognized the womanly figure of the person, I-Pin shocked.

"Haru-nee!"

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A/n : I know it's short. However, I hope you like this one. Thank you for reading :D !


	5. Chapter 5

Title : The Fight Over The Watch

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I obviously do not own it.

* * *

Without long thought, I-Pin ran to the group and made her way through them. Just like what she saw from a far, it's really Haru, but her condition was bad it made the braided girl speechless and wanted to cry. She quickly kneeled down and brought the still-conscious Haru to her arms. There was a trickle of blood from the corner of her lips and her breath was ragged and heavy. When I-Pin touched her disheveled hair, it was sticky with blood from the big wound on her back head. Her white knee-length summer dress was dirty and torn in some parts, which showed the scratched skin and the blue gashes underneath. Beside her were her purse and a small bag I-Pin recognized as shopping bag from the store. The purse and the bag opened, empty. I-Pin took off her jacket and tied it around Haru's head carefully, preventing the blood to leak out.

"Ha-Haru-nee? Did they do this to y-you?"

Haru mumbled something and I-Pin must bent down to hear it clearly. "Ru-run, I-Pin …Do-don't worry about m-me."

I-Pin didn't know what to say. Here in her arms, an injured woman who told her to run away and not caring her own self. She then put Haru down. She didn't want to make any ruckus, but Haru needed a medical treatment now before her condition worsen. She stood, facing the group. Fast observed, she counted 17 people and they wore same blue jacket with a circle symbol on its back. Judging from the image, they maybe were the rascal group that always disturbed the townspeople. I-Pin felt pity for them. Nobody in this city, from the town chief until the beggar, didn't know Vongola. If they knew Haru's identity, they wouldn't treat her like this. They started to laugh again.

"Hahahaha, we got another toy to play with!" One of them who wore a red cap and blue shirt said to his friends.

"Yes, not only one chick, we got tw~o girls. It's our luck~y da~y." The green-haired with Mohawk cut of them said in a strange way. "Hey how about we play so~me games? Like the one we did be~fore!"

The group talked to one another, some laughed, some muttered curses. One thing I-Pin sure was most of them drunk. She could take them down, but with Haru's condition, she couldn't do much. If she focused on the group, some of them could bring Haru away. If she focused on Haru's safety, it would take some time to beat those people. Either choice was not good since it gave her disadvantage. She just hoped her comrades would come quickly. She was trying to decide the best decision when one of them suddenly held her shoulder. She instinctively threw him down, broke the arm, and stood up to defense Haru. She would do anything to keep her figure sister safe. The group, who got pissed of because one of their friends beat down, started to run towards I-Pin.

"I-Pin, is that you?"

A familiar voice of Rain Guardian came from behind the group, caused them all, including I-Pin, stopped moving and turned around. There stood two people, who gave I-Pin big relief. She felt her prayer answered and tears welled up on her eyes again. She said 'thank you, God' repeatedly as if that was a chant. However, the group didn't like their new companions.

"Tch, here comes annoying brats." One of them smirked on the presence of the two.

Hibari and Yamamoto walked through the group, approaching I-Pin whom now turned to Haru. She was trying to sit with her arms supported her body and I-Pin had to lie her back. The emotionless face of Hibari and confused face of Yamamoto changed when they finally saw Haru's condition. Hibari quickly squatted down beside the woman, held her hand, and checked her injuries.

"Haru! I-Pin, what happened to her?" Yamamoto joined the two.

"I-I don't know. I saw the group try to bully someone here so I approached them. But I never thought it was Haru-nee. When I knew it was her, she-she already like this. I want to save her but I couldn't fight them all with Haru-nee like this."

Yamamoto calmed the rambling girl, while Hibari still looked at Haru whom slowly opened her eyes fully. When she tried to move, he prevented it.

"Don't move. Just rest now." He said in calm voice as if soothed the trembled woman. He then turned to I-Pin before stood again. "Keep an eye on her."

Yamamoto glanced at Haru before stood as well. "We have to take her to hospital quickly."

"Whoa, it seems like this two boys are the girls' friend…." The blonde spoke then laughed together with the others.

"What did all of you do to her?" Yamamoto asked the group, smile was nowhere on his face.

"It's none of your business, jerk. But I, being a good man, will tell you. That chick over there sure is a fierce little cat. You should see how she fought us when we want to play with her huahahahaha!!!" The bald-headed and yellow jacket laughed loudly he fell to the ground.

"Yeah, she has a good punch and kick, too. It's still hurt here," one of them rubbed his stomach and his lower part. "We have to teach her ve~ry hard to make her surrender mwahahaha."

They kept talking not noticing the expressions of the two guardians. Every word they said just made the two getting angrier by seconds. The redhead then swung a long-chained silver pocket watch on his hand, in front of his face. Hibari slightly surprised at the sight of the watch.

"Give it back!" I-Pin shouted to him and he just smirked.

"You know whose watch is that, I-Pin?" asked Yamamoto, pointing to the small object.

"It's Haru-nee's," I-Pin said.

"You're right, baby. We took it from her. Because this fucking thing I got this gash on my eye. We need three men to grab her before she caused more damage to our future. But, it's still didn't stop her."

"Yeah, she actually calmed down after the hit hehehehe!!!"

Hibari, Yamamoto, and I-Pin turned to the silver long thick stick that five of them held on each hand. Its shiny serrated surface and the 'clank' sound when it touched another indicating that it was made of steel. There was a fresh dark red liquid-alike on ones surface. I-Pin gasped, her hands covered her mouth. Now she knew what object caused the wound.

"You hit her with that?" Yamamoto asked, couldn't hide his anger anymore when they nodded cockily. "You know she's a female and you still hit her."

"Hey, we have no choice. She's become more dangerous by seconds just because this fucking watch. What is so special about this thing anyway? Let's see…mmm…hey there's a name here…"

I-Pin's eyes widened. She knew whose name engraved there since she saw it coincidentally before it wrapped up by the shopkeeper. She glanced worriedly at the man beside her.

"'H-dot-K-y-o-u-y-a'. Ah, H and Kyouya."

Yamamoto was surprised when hearing the name. I-Pin was sad and mad to those people. Hibari just kept quiet.

"Kind of Japanese name…Isn't that the same name with the one written in the card?" the man beside the redhead said thoughtfully.

"Card? What card? Oh ye~ah, that card. Where is it? Ah here it is. Let me read it to you."

The redhead took the card from his friend and opened it. "Hey! I'm the leader. Let's see…'Dear Hibari Kyouya, ho-'"

When he was about to continue the reading, Hibari's tonfa already sent him backward and unconscious. The rest of the group was stood dumbfounded before shouting curses and started to attack the two males. As much as she wanted to join, I-Pin just sat beside Haru and hoped for the fight to end soon. Surely, those people had no chance against the top assassin of Vongola. In just couple of minutes, the group was lay unconscious on the ground. Hibari picked up Haru bridal-style then ran to the car, Yamamoto and I-Pin (whom had gathered Haru's stuffs) following behind. Yamamoto drove the car in its highest speed to the hospital, and I-Pin sat beside him. On the backseat, Hibari held Haru tightly and whispered something only she could hear. Haru tried to smile but the pain crossed her limit and she fell in unconsciousness. Hibari still talked to her as if she could hear what he said. He didn't mind the blood from Haru's wound stained his suit. He just knew if something worse happened to her, he really would bite someone to death.

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A/n : I'm sorry for the late update. I've been busy with real life since the end of last month. Don't know when it'll end, but I hope I can get through it. I'm not double-check this chapter, so I apologize for any mistakes you find. I hope this chapter is acceptable and thank you for reading :D!


	6. Chapter 6

Title: In The Hospital

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner. I never own it in my entire life.

* * *

"She's sleeping. Now isn't the right time to meet her. If you still insist on meeting her, I suggest in another five hours." Shamal said to the little group in front of him, after closing the door to Haru's room and went to the opposite way.

Tsuna, Kyoko, Gokudera, and Chrome had arrived after Yamamoto called and told them the news, while the rest stayed on the base. Waiting for the lab result, they, except Hibari who was with Haru, gathered on the waiting room and I-Pin had to explain the situation to them. She was the first witness after all.

"Tell us what happened there," Tsuna asked with his usual calmness.

"Like I had told before, I lost Haru-san at one of the watch store on the market. I searched around a bit and when I couldn't find her anywhere, I decided to call the base. At the dusk time, I searched Haru-san at the park nears the marketplace. That's when I saw the group, not far from my place, were bullying someone. Actually, I didn't want to interfere them, since my first priorities at that time was finding Haru-san, but something urged me to come closer. Then, I approached them but I never thought it was really Haru-san. When I knew it was her, she-she had injured." I-Pin stopped for a while. "I checked over her injuries quickly and I realize it was really bad. I didn't know what caused the wounds so I thought she was hit very hard since I'm sure one light hit couldn't cause an injury liked that. I wanted to take her out of there but it's difficult."

"Why? With your abilities I think it's easy to beat those people." Chrome asked worriedly.

"That's true, Chrome-san. However, I couldn't risk her safety if I focused in them. If I do that, some of them would take her away and I'd lost her again. They had showedk their intentions once before. Just when they started to attack me, Hibari-san and Yamamoto-san came and defeated them. After that, we went to nearest hospital since Haru-san's condition worsen."

"Thank you, I-Pin. However, one thing still disturbs me. How could you loss her at the first place?"

"That's right, Tenth. Had you not loss that stupid woman, all this won't happen." Gokudera said nonchalantly, adding the guilty feeling on I-Pin's heart.

She silenced for a while and tried to regain her composure. "I actually didn't know how. We were inside the store. I observed the miniature on the glass cabinet, and Haru-san on the cashier, paid her purchase. That time the city's watch jingled. After the song finished, I looked up and she had gone. The shopkeeper said that Haru-san went out of the store at the middle of the song. I tried to search around, but I couldn't find her anywhere so I called Lambo-kun. That's all I know."

"Wha-? How could that possible? You mean she lost because of the jingle?" Yamamoto asked, slightly disbelieved the girl's answer.

"Excuse me, Tsuna-san. Could I go for a while?" I-Pin left after Tsuna permitted her.

Chrome and Kyoko followed I-Pin after her leaving. The rest sat in silence even when Shamal entered the room.

"Where's the girl?" Shamal asked with a small smile. "Hey, all of you don't have to worry about her. She's a tough girl, so she'll be okay in no time."

Just when Gokudera wanted to shout at him, Tsuna voiced first. "How is she?"

"Well, her condition maybe really bad right now, but she'll be better in a week or so. She just needs a lot of rest. However, it's amazing she still awake with her body, especially her head, wounded like that. I'm not surprised if she's a male, but in fact she's not."

"What about the lab examination? What's the result?" Yamamoto asked.

"Like you expected, Yamamoto, the gashes in her body caused by repeated hit from long and hard blunt object. The same object also caused the wound on her head. Although there is a small crack in the back skull, it will heal eventually. However, she will experience some headache and memory loss as the side effect, and the worst is brain concussion. But…." Shamal trailed off, unsure to continue his sentence.

"But what? Just spit it out!" Gokudera said impatiently.

Shamal sighed at his act before turned to Tsuna. "But I'm sure she'll be fine. Just don't burden her mind during her healing. It would make my efforts go into waste."

"All right, Shamal-san. I'll pay attention to that."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru opened her eyes slowly. She blinked a few before her blurry visions cleared and noticed her surroundings. She was in a small white room. Probably a hospital one, judging from some kind of chemical smells. She then realized a man sat in a chair beside her bedside, staring at her with his usual sharpness looks.

"You awake."

"Ah yes. Where am I?"

"Shamal's hospital."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Three hours."

"Oh, I see. Mmm were you waiting here for that long?"

Haru smiled when Hibari nodded. She closed her eyes again before something hit her mind. "The watch…."

"You mean this?" Hibari took out the silver watch from his pocket. "I don't know you keep this watch. You even fix it. Why did you do that?"

"It wasn't me, the shopkeeper fixed it. I know you were sad when it's broken in the end of our mission, so I decided to fix it in the best watch store I've known here. I just…didn't want to see you sad."

Her response annoyed him somehow. "Do you realize that because this object you were injured right now?"

"Hahi? Oh, yes, but what can I do? They tried to take it from me and I couldn't let them do that. Although in the end, I still couldn't get it back. I even troubled you and Yamamoto, especially I-Pin." The effect of the aesthetic started to take her consciousness again.

"Why? You could just let them take it so they wouldn't hurt you like that."

"Ooh, since when our Hibari-san care like this? As I said before, I couldn't let them do that. It's your precious thing from her, and I would blame myself if I lost it." Her eyelids covered her brown orbs as she slept again, leaving the speechless Hibari.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A soft knocking came from the door.

"Could we talk for a moment, Hibari-san?" Shamal asked after Hibari opened the door.

They then walked out of the room. Hibari sat on the long coach not far from the door, while Shamal took two can of coffee from the vending machine. He gave one to Hibari before sat as well. Sipped the hot coffee, he looked at the door, imagining the woman behind it.

"What do you want to talk about?" Hibari asked the middle-aged male.

"It's about her, how should I call it, ah…diseases. I heard I-Pin's explanation when she lost Haru at the town, and I believe it's not the first time she acted like that, is it?" Shamal turned to the Cloud Guardian.

Hibari didn't bother to look at the man. "So, what if it's true?"

"I want to check it out. The lab results really bother me and I haven't tell the other Vongola about the real matter. I thought I have to talk to you first before I tell them, since you pretty much her partner. I know you don't like being asked, but I need to crossover the fact that I have right now." He pointed the folder in his left hand.

"Go ahead." Hibari sipped his coffee, waiting for his questions.

Shamal smiled. He knew Hibari wasn't the type of social guy and how he disliked everyone as if they were another herbivore to be crushed or slave to be used. That's why he really surprised when he knew this kind of man had a special relationship with woman, no, two women. However, as interesting as everyone thought, that's not the thing he wanted to ask. His questions determined the life of one Vongola family member, a very loving one indeed.

"Since when did she have a forgetful trait? And when was the last time it cause a big problem, either for you, for her, or both?"

Hibari slightly surprised at this. "I'm not sure. It started around one and a half year ago. The last time was today, when she forgot to bring our mission report for Tsuna."

"That's after you arrived here. Is there any event before that?"

"Yes. Once she almost burnt down the flat because she forgot to turn off the stove. Not to forget, she almost killed herself in our mission in China when she suddenly forgot anything, even her name. Well, she didn't admit that it's her own mistakes and she stated she never forgot anything."

"Does she always doze off at the sight of something? Even at an ordinary things like a vase or bugs?" Shamal's voice almost heard as a whispered one.

Hibari tried to remember it. "Yes, but seldom. Why?"

"Nothing. Hibari-san, this is my last question. Did Haru have any accident before her forgetful trait appear? I mean an accident that involved damage to her head like today. The one that made her had a thorough treatment."

"Yes. What's your point in asking me these questions, doctor?"

Shamal handed the folder to Hibari. He let the younger man read the content for a while and recognized his stiffen demeanor. "I'm sure you had seen this kind of result before, and I'm sure you know the meaning of it."

Hibari closed the folder and gave it back to the giver.

"You could do nothing, Hibari-san." The doctor said to him with a stern voice.

He didn't like what he heard, but didn't mind it. It wasn't the first, though. However, Shamal's statement made him remembered that accident again. The one changed them both and their lives as well. He stood up and went to Haru's room.

He stopped for a while at the doorstep. "You can tell the others if you have to. Although I dislike them, they have the rights to know her condition. Besides, they will know about it, sooner or later."

"Sure, now I'm confuse." Shamal sighed after Hibari went in and closed the door. "How should I tell them?"

* * *

A/n: What do you think about this chapter? Not the best one but I hope it's acceptable and I hope you like it. Thank you for reading :D!


	7. Chapter 7

Title : The Doctor and The Patient

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibaxHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner.

* * *

Haru lay on her bed, feeling a bit uncomfortable while watching a crescent moon off the window. Shamal had left the room minutes ago, doing the night check up. No, Shamal didn't do anything wrong to her. Instead, he permitted her to take a walk tomorrow, after five days confiscated in the same room. She just didn't like the conversation about her condition. She already knew that something inside her head was, if possible, not a death-related thing. It was just something that could change her body system. Well, it could lead to her death if she wasn't careful, though. Nonetheless, she never saw it as a burden, since it happened on her knowledge. As uneasy as she was now, she was glad Shamal didn't tell Hibari about it, although sooner or later he had to.

'I hope I made the right decision.' She thought to herself.

---Several minutes earlier---

"Feeling better now?" Haru nodded after Shamal finished his examination. "Well, if your progress keeps increase like this, you'll be release in three or four days."

"Shamal-san, don't you have something else to say?" It made the already standing doctor sat back on the chair he used before and observed the woman.

"Ugh, yes, actually," Shamal scratched his back head awkwardly. "It's about your symptom, Haru. How long have you been experience it?"

"To be honest, I don't remember."

"But, you knew it all this time, right?" Haru nodded again. Shamal looked at her worriedly, "Haru, I don't want to scare you, but it's not an easy matter. You have to pay more attention to it, for your own sake. You may think it won't endanger your life in the present, but in the future?"

Haru tried to stifle her laugh. "I know. That's what you told me ever since I regained my consciousness back."

"Then why you don't want to take the medication?" Shamal's question successfully stopped her laugh.

"Because it's useless."

"Wow, this is the first time I hear you say 'useless'."

Haru grinned then approached the window. She just said that words in front of several people, plus Hibari. "Well, even though the success rate is high, I don't want to take it, Shamal-san. Not right now. Medication will limit me when I still have an important mission waiting to be done, and I can't afford to fail. Besides, I won't be dead just because of that."

"Is that so? Then why Hibari said the opposite?" Haru slightly surprise but didn't show it. What did Hibari say to him? "He said you almost killed yourself on one of your mission."

"Oh..." She wandered back to any memories of Hibari scolding her for her reckless moves, but so far, none was as dangerous as Shamal said. Said man glanced at her for a moment and noticed the confusion on her face.

"Don't think too much because your brain still recovers."

Both were quiet as Shamal busied himself with something on his notepad, and Haru starred at the dark sky off the window.

"Shamal-san, you…didn't tell Hibari, right?" Shamal looked up to her.

"Tell what?"

Haru fidgeted nervously while standing on her place. "You know…my CT scan. You told me the result was out yesterday."

"Ah, no, I just told him the overall result. I'm planning to show the paper after he's back from Berlin in the next two days," Shamal approached the young woman and stood beside her, smiling. "You don't want him to know your true condition?"

"Not that I want everyone knows, but," Haru took a long breath. "He, off all the people that I know, is the one I mostly want to keep the result away. That's why; I hope you didn't show it to him."

Shamal looked at her strangely. "But he's your boyfriend, right?"

"…Yes."

"And you don't have family anymore." Haru gave him a what-do-you-mean look.

"What-"

"Then, I'm afraid I can't promise you that." He cut her off. "I'm a doctor, and you're my patient. As long as we have this relationship, I'm responsible for everything regarding your health, including information to be given to your family or any relation you have. In your case is Hibari." Haru didn't say a word. "Have you ever considered his feeling, Haru?"

"I know exactly what he feels towards me." Haru flashed a small smile. "But still, I won't change my decision."

"No regrets?" She nodded. "Fine, but if things are getting worse, I will tell him. And, after you finish your mission, you have to take the medication."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Haru pouted but then grinning widely when he showed an irritated face. She reached for his hand and held it with hers. "I'm just kidding. I'll think about it. Thank you so much, Shamal-san. I really appreciate your understanding."

Shamal stood dumbfounded before smile sheepishly. He hugged her, like a father hugging his daughter. After a moment, he released her. "I'll let you rest now. And, I know you are boring here, so you can take a walk tomorrow."

"Really? Thank you!" Her eyes were sparkle with happiness at the phrase 'take a walk'.

"But don't overdo it. I don't want you to collapse from exhaustion."

Haru laughed. "I'm a strong girl, so nothing to worry about."

"If you say so. Now sleep. Your body recovers fully if you have enough rest." Shamal said then guided the brunette to her bed.

"It's too late, Shamal-san." And she smiled innocently before closing her eyes.

--------------------------------

In his office, Shamal sighed again for the umpteenth times. Haru's last statement was plaguing his mind. The way she said it easily showing that she knew about her health problems since long time ago. Shamal didn't know whether Hibari also knew it or not, but he hoped the infamous guardian wouldn't pour his wrath at him for keeping a secret of his girlfriend. He didn't mind she refused to tell Hibari if the family had a lot of problems and he was needed to fulfill his duty, but right now Shamal could say that the situation was calm and the Vongola was at its peak. As a family honored by the others, none could last against them, like those rascals whom most of them ended in graveyard by Hibari himself and the rest was sentenced for life in prison at Tsuna's mercy. At first, he thought she had a silly reason, but now, he understood, although only a bit, why she said that. He observed the picture on a film paper in his hand. It was Haru's brain. He wasn't the expert of this area, but he knew she would need a thorough surgery and medication to get rid of that soft lines alongside her brain. If only she let other people knew, the treatment would be much easier.

'I hope I'm not making a wrong decision,' he thought to himself.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru sat closed eye on the garden bench under the shade of tall willow tree, enjoying her free time. Today, she had walked around the hospital and had talked to other patients she met along the way. It was great and refreshing, since she never got any visitor except Shamal and his nurses. The last different person visited her was Chrome, and that's four days ago. Chrome told her that they were busy with the preparation of a formal party, which would be hold in another three days from today. Remembering Chrome said that it would be grander than the last time; made Haru wished that Shamal would release her sooner so she could attend the occasion, even though it's only a false hope considering her lab's result.

At least, she felt more relax now. The smell of blossoming flowers, the sound of happily chirped birds, and the shouts of kids playing soccer on the small field not far from her place, were reminding her of the times back in Japan. The birds reminded Haru to a certain yellow bird while those kids reminded her to her boys, their younger version to be exact albeit the fact they never played soccer. Picturing their older version playing soccer was enough to make her laughed. Her wondering lasted until something touched her feet. She opened her eyes, it was the ball those kids played with. Haru took the ball and watched them bickering to one another, on whom among them would retrieve the ball. Finally, they made a decision as a boy approached her.

"Uumm…sorry for disturbing you, Miss. But could you give me the ball on your hands?"

Haru grinned before handing the ball to him. He smiled brightly, thanked her, and ran back to his group, waving his hand to Haru whom now looked sad. To be honest, she wanted to have a child, but her possibility of pregnancy was small on received the tortures long time ago. Seeing the children playing together like that somehow triggered the old wish to resurface. Not to mention the old painful memories related to her precious man.

"Stop daydreaming." The toneless voice came from behind her.

Haru turned around on her seat and smiled widely at the sight of the Cloud Guardian. "Hibari!? But, I thought you 're still in Berlin?" She tried to stand up only to receive a glare from him. With one move, Haru already sat back to her previous position. Her eyes averted to a big chocolate-colored bag on his right hand. "What's that?"

Said man sat beside her and gave the bag, "Your dress. And, I arrived this morning."

Haru starred at the man before pinched her arm, "Hahi! It hurts…wait, then I'm not dreaming? You're really here! But, my dress? I though I left them in Tokyo, so… "

The disbelief look from Haru slowly irritated the young man. "Vongola party will be hold in two days and I know you didn't bring any, so I bought it. You don't have to wear it if you want."

'He bought it for me…' Haru thought in disbelief, "Ah, no-no, I really want to wear it, but I can't. Shamal-san said I still have to stay in another three or four days and-"

He cut her off. "It's been taken care of. You'll leave today."

"What? You…didn't do anything bad to him, right?" The image of Hibari beating Shamal almost to death and Shamal crying and begging for his life, played on her mind and she shuddered. "Poor Shamal-san."

"I'm not killing him if that's what you think of," Hibari turned to Haru. "Tell me what you did when I'm not around."

Haru looked at him confusedly but then smiled. She then talked about the time when her bandage being released by Shamal, the examination and therapy process, until everything she did today. The man observed the happily talking woman while listening to her stories. She healed much since he last saw her six days ago. Like she said, no bandages wrapped around her head anymore, and the gashes on her hands were nowhere to be found. Her once pale face was getting its normal color back, and based on her story, she could walk around without problem. Shamal had stated that Hibari could take her home today, but the doctor made him promised to not let her thought too much as it would burdening her mind and incapacitating her body. Other than that, she was fine and, to be honest, he was glad. The last time she had that kind of wound and in comatose state for four days, he blamed himself since he was the cause. That was the first time he distasted his existence as a mafia and as a man.

"Hibari? Are you okay?" Haru's question and the touch of her hand on his cheek sent Hibari back to the present. "You look sad."

Hibari shrugged her off and stood up. "I'm fine. Let's pack up your stuff."

Haru followed the man without asking any question. She knew, by just being beside him, that Hibari had something on his mind. She only hoped he would open up to her again, just like their past before he forgot everything. How she missed that time.

* * *

A/N : I'm really sorry for the late update! Many things happened and I lost my muse. As for this one, I apologize for any mistake I've done (the grammar, the OOC, the style, etc). I'm working on the next two chapters and hopefully I can post the next one before the end of this month. Hope you like this one, and please tell me your opinion. Thank you for reading! :D


	8. Chapter 8

Title : Trapped

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibaxHaru

Disclaimer: I think I'm gonna say it until the end. Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to its respective owner.

* * *

The party was marvelous. The host family was warm and welcoming; excluding several people, whom we all knew couldn't hold their patience. The guests were dazzling and famous, since most of them were celebrity or came from a major family. The decoration was simple yet glamour, which Haru believed was planning by Kyoko. The food was delicious and the gratitude was given to Bianchi, although she made Tsuna passed out the day she exclaimed she'd take care of the food section. Any other things completed the whole event as perfection. The opening part and welcoming speech had been done and now the dinner has begun. Everyone was enjoying the party, but Haru wasn't anymore. The reason?

It's simple, she was stuck in a strange place after coincidentally stepped on a secret trap moments ago. How did she meet the trap? She didn't know. She planned to go to her room and suddenly she fell into a big hole that came out of nowhere. Seconds after, her body greeted the cold-dusted ground, head first. After minutes of unconsciousness followed by yelps, curses, and simple wound-treatment, Haru calmed down.

"Nothing's hurt badly, only sprained ankle, nose bleed, bruises on right arm, left leg, and…great, I ruined the dress," Haru muttered to herself, seeing her black taffeta dress has torn in the lower part alongside her right thigh. Messaging her ankle, she looked around. "Hahi, where is this?"

The place she fell into was a long tunnel ended in darkness, since the dim lamps hung along the brick wall couldn't provide enough light to shine the place. Greenish black-and-white tiles covered the floor, some were broken, some were missing, but the rests were fine. The grazing winds on her bare skin and dripping sound of water from somewhere, just given off a creepy feeling and she didn't like it. She might be liked it if she was in another condition, but not now. The air felt damp and that meant the place located somewhere near a water source. The only water source Haru could think of was a lake located around 20 km off the building or a sewer running down the area. The first option was impossible because, if she counted correctly, the trip didn't took a long time, so the second one would be the answer.

'But, how could I fall into the hole at first?' she thought hard but no answer except a pain perched in her head. She turned her sight to the narrow path, 'Wonder what's in the end…'

Suddenly, a chill feeling crept inside her. She never went to and heard of this place before. Therefore, she knew nothing of this place; the structure, the living things inside (if there's any), etc. What if she couldn't get out from here? What if something happened to her and no one knew about her condition? What if she met something dangerous? Other what-ifs followed to fill her thoughts. She quickly opened her bag and grabbed her cell phone. Unfortunately, it was broken from the fall impact and she couldn't call someone for help.

"What a lucky day for you Haru…," she sighed, "Maybe I have to wait until someone finds me."

She laughed at her own words. Everyone was drowning in the party. No one would bother to know her disappearance. An image of Hibari searching her made her laughed even louder. It was impossible. He might be was too busy doing other things to notice she was gone. The conversation she coincidentally heard before she walked away from the main hall, just making it all clearer. Yes, it was foolish of her to believe they could start it all over again. However, it's weird. No matter how painful it was, a voice inside her still telling her to believe.

"Hahi! Wake up, Haru! No time to be sad!" She erased her tears and tried to stand up, "I'll get out of here and I'll make him fall in love with me again!"

"Who is this person you talked about fall in love again with?"

Haru turned her head really fast someone could hear a crack sound. Confusion, surprise, happiness, and resentment mixed as one when she saw the Cloud Guardian stood not far from her. She tried to walk away from him, but her leg gave up after three steps. When she almost kissed the floor for the second times of the day, Hibari caught her in his arms. He steadied her body, then doing something on his phone. Being close like this, Haru could feel his anger but didn't want to ask the reason since she knew, much or less, she was one of the cause.

"What are you doing here?"

Said woman startled by the sudden question but smiled, "Just taking a night walk."

Hibari looked at her strangely then smirked, "Nice place you pick to have a walk."

She crossed her arms and pouted, "Humph! It's none of your business. I'll go wherever I want to and you don't have any rights to forbid me."

"Of course I have," Hibari said it sternly. "We better get going now before they come."

Now it's her turn to look at him strangely. They? Whom was he referring? Were there any other people besides him and her? Why did his face seem odd? Before she could ask, Hibari already kneeled down and offered his back to her. Although it wasn't the first time, she still not accustomed to this thing. It was just an ordinary act, but she thought it was cute since he rarely did that.

"What are you-"

"Your ankle still hurt, right? I want to get out of here quickly and this way, we can move faster."

Not questioning anymore, Haru accepted the offer and encircled her arms on Hibari's neck before he started to run. She stayed quiet during the trip over the place. There's something in his tone before, something commanding but also akin to anxiousness. What was he afraid off? Was it people he met before? Were they dangerous? When she was about to ask, Hibari stopped abruptly as sound of running steps heard from behind.

Haru glanced to the dark place behind them, "Who are they, Hibari? Are they after us?"

He shook his head as he felt her fright, "Not, it's not you they're after. It's me."

Something unbeknownst to her told her that he lied, "A-are you sure?"

He nodded and continued his running until they reached a dead end. Putting her down, he approached the right side wall and pushed a brick, appearing a small number pad. After inputting some numbers on it, the wall on the center part disappeared, revealing a steel door. He opened it quickly and pushed her inside, to a dim 7 m2 room which Haru recognized as one of Vongola's hidden room, due to its similarity to the one she had visited before.

"Wait here and don't do anything stupid," he said and walked back to the previous place, "It won't take long."

"Hibari!" she smiled as he turned around and her eyes met his, "Don't get hurt too much, okay?"

She swore he was smiling back, or if an upward curl on the tip of his lips considered as one. They didn't broke their eyes even after the door closed fully. Haru squinted down on the floor, hugging her knees and praying for his safety, although he most likely would make it out off sweat. Hibari stood still for a couple of seconds before turned around to greet their pursuers. Not long after, he saw them, a bunch of –in his opinion- herbivores who tried to infiltrate the base through this tunnel and armed with various weapons. They were just weaklings but he thought they were enough to entertain him tonight.

"That's him!" one of them shouted and in matter of seconds, the group charged toward the raven-haired man. "FINISH HIM OFF!"

Taking his trusted tonfas out of the box, he greeted them with his usual line, "I'll bite you to death."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari entered the hidden room, only to find it empty. There was no sign of her everywhere. He searched around the area, but she was nowhere. He checked the door connecting the room and mansion's west wing, it's still locked. As far as he knew, other than this door and the one connected to tunnel, there was no other way out. But, did she find another one? No, it couldn't be. The only people knew of this room was just the family's guardian. This wasn't right. He didn't know why, but he knew he had experienced it long ago. She's missing, and he couldn't find her. Now, it happened again. When he was about to panic, which he would never admit to anyone, he saw a suspicious thing in the corner of the room. A strange sign had written beside the bookshelf that moved slightly, not in its previous precise position. He moved the bookshelf again and there was a small door which height was less than a half of his own. Whoever wanted to go through it, had to crawl or else they wouldn't fit in. He sighed. Knowing Haru, she might think of it as a challenging thing and entered it happily. Just like the time when they went to Si Dao Guo.

----------Flash back-----------

"Come on, Hibari! This road will lead us to the treasure of Lung Family we heard in the town!" she said eagerly. "And it's also written on this map!"

"It's just a fairytale. There's no such things like hidden treasure in this place. And this thing?" he took the map from her hand, "The villagers use it to attract the tourist."

Haru grabbed the map back and pouted on his statement, "No, you're wrong, Hibari. My hunch telling me it's a real thing and I believe it. I'll prove it to you."

"Don't do anything stupid, Haru," he warned her but the woman just smile.

In the end, he ended up searching for her all over the place, saving her from the town's thugs, and keeping them alive through the palace's traps. However, he had to admit his mistake when they finally found the Ocean's Shell, the lost treasure of the village's noble family. She successfully proved her words to him.

-------End of Flashback--------

Hibari still not sure why he finally crawled along the narrow way leading nowhere, but if he's right, the person he's searching for definitely was in the end. However, he couldn't help but grumped everytime a new dirt sticking to his clothes. About 20 minutes later, he managed to get out of there, only to find himself arrived at the top of a small hill located near the mansion. He glanced down; the door he went through before was a square wood door-alike, not far from a small house which seemed never been used for ages. He looked around, only to find nothing but several trees and green grass. Feeling bored, he decided to go back to the mansion. Kusakabe has adding the amount of his men to patrol the area he pointed, so it should be safe now especially since he already defeated most of them, including the group following Haru before.

"Kusakabe, find Haru. She's missing," Hibari called his right man before walked away.

During his walk along the river flowing to the lower side of the hill, he found her. She was sitting under a big tree, looking at the mansion with solemn face, as if she thought about something serious. However, the smile erased her expression when she noticed him, just like usual.

"You read my message," she said happily as he sat beside her, "I thought you wouldn't find it."

"It's really obvious it's hard to miss. How's your ankle?"

She giggled, "It's better now. About the message, you're the only person who won't miss it. Other people will think of it as nothing. I told you before, right, it's-"

"Our special language. Only used by Haru and Hibari. I know that." He cut her off, and Haru almost laughed.

She told him to open his black coat, before started to clean the bruises on his arms and his face, with the wet tissue she always kept on her bag. Why she always stocked it up, he didn't know.

"Sorry about the dress."

He observed her dress which torn on the lower part. Had he came late, she'd wear nothing. "I'll buy you a new one."

"Hahi? Thank you…but, you don't have to. I'll just patch it up and it'll be like a new dress," he looked at her skeptically, "Hey! What does that look means?"

"I don't think the dress will ever be the same as new."

"Oh, so you say I'm not capable of doing that?"

"No, I didn't say that."

"You say it. Indirectly."

They kept talking until his phone's rang. It's from Yamamoto. Tsuna wanted them all to gather on the meeting room after the dinner in an hour. Hibari stood up and took his coat without wearing it again. He didn't feel like to meet them since the only thing he wanted to meet right now was his bed. After several steps, he stopped since Haru didn't follow him.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"I'd like to reconsider our relationship." Hibari was surprise.

"What are you talking about?" he looked at her straight in the eye.

"I've been thinking about this ever since you wake up that day. I know you feel nothing towards me, and you still love her. I won't bother you again so I want you to reconsider our relationship, too. That way, we can walk our own separate way. We can still be friend if you want, considering we have live together for long time and we pretty much known each other well. Not to forget Tsuna-san sometimes sends us together on some missions. But, don't worry, I know my place so I won't be a burden for you and-"

"What are you talking about?" he repeated the question and approached her.

She took a deep breath and straightened her body, "I believe I say it clearly before. I want to reconsider our relationship."

"And why was that?" Hibari stood really close to Haru she had to look up to see his face.

"Just grant my request, Hibari. Don't you always wait for me to say it?"

"No, I don't. And you don't give me the exact reason why I should grant your request."

Haru looked down, tried to prevent her tears to leak out. "I told you my reasons before. I won't say it again."

"That doesn't convince me."

"So, what answer will convince you, Hibari-san?" And he kissed her.

* * *

A/n: I won't write when will I post the next chapter. I end up post it days after that (because of this, that, etc). Sorry for any mistakes I've done. Well, here's the next chapter and hope you enjoy it. Please read and review (if you like), and thank you for reading :D!


	9. Chapter 9

Title : The Funeral [Part 1]

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibaxHaru

Disclaimer: Only own the idea of the story and the OCs.

* * *

Hibari lay on his bedside, looking at the sunny morning outside his room's window, before looked at the sleeping brunette beside him. It's still 7 PM. The party three days ago ended successfully, and it satisfied the Vongola as the host. However, their conversation that night reopened an old wound, for him, and for her.

"Mmm…I want that montblanc, please…," Haru mumbled in her sleep, facing the raven-haired man.

He smiled at her act and aligned his body with hers. Warm, peaceful, and calmness radiated from her, and it relaxed him. Just like usual. He pulled her into his hug and it made Haru snuggled deeper into him. Her hot breath tickled his bare chest and the smell of lavender from her hair filled his nostril. He maybe emotionless bastard (as she always said when they had a quarrel) and his feeling for her weren't pure love, but he enjoyed this private moment. He stroked her hair, rubbed her back, sometimes stopped at the rough skin that was her scar. He felt guilty for letting her alone. If only he went with her that day, this would not happen. The fact was, he didn't.

"Ungh…Hibari? Good morning…Hahi? Oh! I'm sorry," Haru woke up and surprised when found herself inside his embrace.

She sat and moved back to her side after apologized to him, but Hibari's hand prevented her to move any farther. He sat as well and his hand still on hers. The sight of his topless figure flushed her and he chuckled. He pulled her back to him again, reddened the scarlet face of the woman. She couldn't look him in the eye when she recognized what's showed in those dark orbs.

"Hibari… "

She stopped talking when he leaned down to her level. He kissed her forehead, her temple, her nose, and her cheek, before ended on her lips. The light kiss went for a minute long before he nibbled her lower lip, asking for an entrance. As she gave the permission, he explored her mouth, played with her tongue, and tasted the sweet taste of vanilla. Haru slipped out a small moan as his kisses getting deeper and his hand traveled under her satin nightgown. He then kissed down her chin and her neck. She moaned again and tilted her head back so he could access her neck more. He moved to her bare shoulder, down to the middle part of her body. Suddenly, there's a loud knocking in their door. Haru almost fell from the bed and Hibari grunted in annoyance. After she hurriedly went to the bathroom, Hibari opened the door, revealed Yamamoto whom already dressed in his black suit.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Hibari asked, didn't like the disturbance.

"Sorry for waking you two early, but Tsuna received news from Fermiere family. Leon, the youngest son, died an hour ago." Yamamoto answered after seeing the twitch on Hibari's face.

To Hibari, the name of Leon Fermiere somehow triggered his dislike towards the man he even barely knew. It was as if that person had done something bad to him. After Yamamoto left, Hibari closed the door right away and lay on the bed again, waiting for his turn. The good feeling he had earlier vanished and he needed a cold shower now. Damn Rain disturbed the morning.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari didn't like the solemn face Haru wore today, since she learned the news until they arrived at the Fermiere's. When he told her the name of the deceased person, she showed nothing but sadness in her eyes. When everyone sent their grief to Antonio Fermiere along with comforting words, she just bowed in front of the old man. The leader of Fermiere itself was lost at words when she stood in front of him. She was silent, only smiled and gave a sufficient reply to every person talked to her. He thought it's strange, considering her usual nature, but maybe it's just her way to honor the event. That until he heard the conversation between Rosa, Antonio's oldest daughter, and Haru, in the back terrace, secluded from others.

"Please stand up, Rosa-san! It's improper for you to do this," Haru tried to stop Rosa from kneeling.

"No, Haru! I will kneel until you forgive all of his mistakes! It's my fault for doing nothing when he tortured you, his lover. I knew what he did was wrong, but I didn't stop it! I closed my eyes from any of his wrongdoings, just because he's my brother and you're an outsider. I could stop him, but I didn't do it. I fail as sister, a woman, and a human!" Rosa cried at the end of her wails.

There's a long silence before Haru put her hand on Rosa's shoulder and said, "I have forgiven his mistakes to me since long ago. That's why you don't have to blame yourself. Now please stand up and don't cry anymore. I'm sure Leon won't be happy seeing you like this."

"Haru…," Rosa finally stood up with Haru's help, "Thank you so much."

Both woman smiled to each other before went to the main hall. Hibari followed the two while thinking about the conversation. This is the first time he heard that Haru once had a romantic relationship with Leon Fermiere. On top of all, that person used to torture her. He now knew, although only a little, the reason behind his resentment to the name this morning. However, the more he thought, the strange he felt. He just knew it several minutes ago, but he felt like he had known it years ago. Did he forget it or what?

"Hibari, are you okay?" Yamamoto's question gave his consciousness back. Beside the Rain Guardian, Chrome stood with a worried look towards Hibari. He nodded and Yamamoto smiled, "You didn't respond to our talk, so I thought you are sick. It's good if you're okay and-"

"Where's Haru?" Hibari cut off Yamamoto's words and looked around.

"I think I saw her went there a moment ago," Chrome's pointed to a glass door leading to the outside on the west wall.

Not wasting time, Hibari left the confused couple and walked to the said place. After five minutes searching, he found her sat on a bench, talking to someone. Imagined his surprise when he saw that person was Mukuro Rokudo. They seemed talking about something serious, and Hibari was unsure, whether he should go there, or stayed here and listened to their talks. Then he heard it.

"I know Rokudo-san. I maybe have forgiven his mistakes but I'm not sure I could forget what he did, especially to Hibari. I don't think Hibari itself would spare Leon's life, if he remembers the event."

What? What did she say? Leon did something? What event did she mean?

"Well, what do you think would happen, if Leon was alive and Hibari was remembered? Wouldn't it affect the relationship between Vongola and Fermiere?" Haru nodded in agreement, "It's hurt, right?"

Haru looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean, Rokudo-san?"

Rokudo's hand moved to reach for Haru's face. However, he stopped as Gokudera's voice heard not far from them, calling for Hibari. Haru and Mukuro turned to where Hibari stood, at the same time said man approached the two.

"Don't touch her."

* * *

A/n: I'm really sorry for the late update! I'm just recovered from my routine disease and had no time for updating. I know it's not long, but this is all I can do for now. I made a lot of mistakes here, but I hope you could enjoy it. And, thank you for those who had reviewed the last chapter. It really helped me to get through my 'reserved' time. Please read and review (if you like), and thank you for reading :D!


	10. Chapter 10

Title : The Funeral [Part 2]

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: Hibari, Haru, Mukuro

Disclaimer: Amano Akira owns Katekyo Hitman Reborn, I own the OCs.

* * *

Haru couldn't hide it anymore. When she sat alone on the garden, the tears she held back since she heard of Leon's death trickled. The shining sun, the colorful flowers, the chirping birds, they couldn't stop it. Her feelings mixed up even she couldn't describe it well. She didn't know whether she was happy or sad, it was just the same for her. She felt sorry for the family he left behind, but on the other side, she was happy that person no longer lived. Ever since he changed to a total stranger, she secretly wished he would die, by her or another. That way, she could be free. Heck, she even had planned various ways to kill him. Too bad, she didn't have heart, power, and courage to do it. Her love for him had defeated her will. It was over now, but remembering those things actually made her wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Maybe she was taking one more step lead to insanity. One she could pointed out, despite the pain he inflicted on her, he used to have a special place inside her heart, like Tsuna to her. That was why, she could sent him today with a smile, which she would never let anyone saw. Aniki would call her crazy if he saw her like this.

"I just heard it. He finally dead, huh?" Haru smiled at the words of the man on the other line. "Finally someone granted your wishes."

"Don't say that. He was still your friend in the end. At least, say good thing in his last time."

"Ex-friend and I don't want to. Imagine myself doing that just making me want to vomit," Haru chuckled while erasing her tears. "Where are you? Don't tell me you're in…"

"His funeral."

"What?! With his people gathering there?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"That's the last thing I can do to him, as a woman who once had a special relationship with him. I maybe don't have any tie to his family anymore, but I've known them for long and it's an enough reason to meet and give my grief to them."

"Humph, whatever you do, I hope those people don't treat you badly, or…," he took and released a deep breath. "You know what will happen."

"They won't. I know them very well, and I assure you I'll be fine here," she chuckled then looking at the stack of letters on her hand. "Rosa-san talked to me."

"…What did she want? Asking you to forgive her? Or blaming you for her little brother's death?"

"The former. And she won't blame me since the person she should blame of didn't present," Haru chuckled.

"…I'm really sorry, Haru. If only that time I didn't say it, maybe Leon wouldn't treat you harshly and both of you still together right now," the seriousness in his voice erased the smile on Haru's face.

"Hahi…It's not your fault. Besides, I'm happy with the way I am now. Maybe that's the path I have to take in this life."

"Oh, please don't go all sad to me. You know I hate it," he frowned.

Haru nodded to no one and laughed, "I can't help it."

"Guess you can rest easily right now, Haru," he smiled again after hearing her laughter.

"Umm, Aniki?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you send it again?"

"The medicine?" there was a long silence before he replied, "Okay, but don't overuse it. You know the dosage limit, right?"

"I know. I always read your prescription before take it, so nothing to worry about."

"Good. Hey, I have to go now. I'll call you again later." Before the call ended, he said, "Haru, just call me if you need my help, anytime, anywhere."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

Putting her phone inside her bag, she eyed the letters given by Rosa. The woman gave it before they parted.

"_I found it inside the box he always used to store his precious things. I'm sure it is for you since your name it has your name. I don't know the reason of him keeping it instead of sending it, but I think he wants you to have it now."_

She had read most of them before Aniki's call. Just by reading it, she could picture his face and understand his feeling clearly, as if he himself read it to her directly. It filled with accusations, curses, regrets, things she had predicted before. Not wanting to ruin her already ruined emotion, she stuffed the letters inside her bag, before her eyes darted to the only ivory-colored envelope left on her hands. The letter she hasn't read. She didn't care about the content anymore as she thought it might be the same with the former and she just wanted to read it. Sighing before opening the lid, she then proceeded to read the whole message. It was short but she smiled in the end. There written things she never thought he would do and give to her again, an apology and a wish for her happiness. It was dated two days before his death. Maybe he knew his end was near, and he decided to write it. Whatever his reason was, Haru felt like seeing the man she used to know and love there. Folding it neatly, she put the letter together with the others. The last letter from Leon Fermiere to Miura Haru.

"Good day, Lady. May I accompany you?" someone asked from her behind.

Haru turned to the voice's owner. He was a tall and handsome man with teal blue long hair. He wore a white hal-unbuttoned shirt inside a black jacket, black loosened tie, black trouser, and a pair of black shoes. She didn't know who this man was, but his voice was so familiar to her. It was similar to the one whom always talked to her in her mind, when she was alone, when she was sad, when she was feeling down, and when she was happy. Then, a name appeared on her memory and she remembered him. The only Guardian of Vongola, who had the ability of mind controlling as well as the first person she met after the night she lost her innocence.

"Yes, you may, Rokudo-san," she spoke the name which familiar to her lips.

He smiled as he nodded to the brunette, before sat beside her. Both sat down in silence for a moment before he said, "It's such a nice day today, don't you think?"

Haru let off a small laugh, "Indeed, but I think you should keep your voice down if you don't want the Fermiere to take it wrongly."

"They won't. They are too busy with the funeral to find my words bother them. They ignore you until now although they know who you are, right? Well, except that lovely woman. She looked sad but also happy when I saw her entering the hall," Mukuro pointed to Rosa whom stood beside Antonio, greeting the newly came guests.

"Is that so?" Haru said nonchalantly. "I didn't see it."

"I see you still hate them, especially the deceased individual," he smirked while observing the woman beside him. "I hope you're not having hatred toward him anymore. It doesn't suit you."

Haru looked down, playing with the ring on her finger, "I know Rokudo-san. I maybe have forgiven his mistakes but I'm not sure I could forget what he did, especially to Hibari. I don't think Hibari itself would spare Leon's life, if he remembers the event."

"Well, what do you think would happen, if Leon was alive and Hibari was remembered? Wouldn't it affect the relationship between Vongola and Fermiere?" Mukuro smiled as Haru nodding to his remark, "It's hurt, right?"

"What do you mean?" confusion showed in her eyes and Mukuro couldn't help not to sigh.

"Poor thing," his hand moved to touch her face.

When it was just an inch away, he stopped as he sensed dark aura not far as well as Gokudera's voice called for a name. That was when Hibari made his presence before them. Haru stiffened as her mind wondering if Hibari listened to their conversation or not, while Mukuro flashed a smirk to the other man.

"Don't touch her," Hibari's voice was calm, but both knew he actually wasn't calm.

Hibari gave the distaste look to Mukuro while said man just smirked at his presence, leaving Haru irritated with their behaviour. She was about to protest when Hibari said, "Haru, come here. Now."

The woman flinched at the coldness in Hibari's tone and finally walked to his side after mumbling apology to Mukuro. Grabbing Haru's hand and took her away from there, Hibari went to the other side of the building, leaving the amused Mukuro. Interesting, he thought.

"Are you angry with me?" Haru asked when they were alone on a quiet part of the building.

He shook his head but said nothing. To be honest, he wanted to ask about the things he had heard of, but he couldn't find the words. Something nagged at his mind but he couldn't describe it well. He only looked at her and spontaneously uttered, "I don't like him."

Haru stared at him before giggled. Her irritation to him gone afterwards. She didn't believe her hearing but she understood his reason. Taking his hand in hers, she brushed it slowly as if assuring him, "I know, Hibari. I know."

* * *

A/n: Hopefully I could post the next chapter sooner than this. Anyway, sorry for any mistake I've done and hope you could enjoy this chapter. Please read and review (if you like), and thank you for reading! ;D


	11. Chapter 11

Title : Picnic Time

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira. The OCs belong to me.

* * *

"Let's go somewhere," Hibari said after breakfast over.

And here Haru was, facing an endless blue water of Calarossa beach, with Hibari stood behind her. It had been so long since the last time they went to a beach, and she was truly happy, which resulting a big smile on her face. She didn't know what crossed his mind for having this idea, but she wouldn't ask. Knowing him, he most likely would take his invitation back if she voiced her question. Based on her own experience, she decided it was best to ask nothing. He would tell her in the end, directly or not, and whether he realized it or not.

"Hahi! Let's go there, Hibari!"

Taking her shoes off, Haru took a light run towards a small cliff not far from them, leaving Hibari following her lazily. He didn't want to go at first, despite the fact he was actually the one taking her, but now, he thought, it maybe wasn't a bad decision. At least, he could use it to relax a bit since not many people occupied this part of the beach. He definitely would go back straight to the base if the beach's population exceeded his liking.

"Hibari!" the woman waved at him. "Come here!"

He nodded and continued his walk, as he saw her turning back and looking out the ocean again. Wind blowing her hair and her pink-striped skirt, and he found it rather good on her. When he arrived beside her, she started to speak about the beautiful scenery, how clear the water and how blue the sky were, how the waves crashed and shattered upon met the big rock down there, how some ships sailing on the sea similar to black dots drawn on a blue paper, and everything she saw there.

"Hahi, it's really beautiful…I wish I could see it again next year," she said.

"The beach won't go anywhere," he replied not paying attention to Haru's strange smile, before yawning and walking to the lower side of the beach.

"I hope we can go here together again, someday," she silently prayed.

Strolling alongside the seashore, Haru enjoyed the company of the man beside her, although he didn't say anything. It was typical of him and she would find it weird if he suddenly became a chatterbox person. Imagining Hibari became talkative caused her giggles and she should stop when said person gave her a glare. He didn't talk much even when they cruised along other Egadi Islands or when they snorkeled (not that they could speak underwater, though). Moreover, he chose to sleep when they sat under the umbrella's shade after three hours full with water activities, which Haru thought was the best time to converse but apparently, she was wrong.

"You're no fun!" Haru frowned after several poking on his body and Hibari didn't budge from his position. "Fine! I'll play with them and you're not allowed to join."

Hibari, peeking under his hat, eyed the brunette whom now approaching a group of local children making sand castle not far. They looked at her strangely but several minutes later, some of them happily collected seashells and corals with her, while the others built the structure. He smiled lightly before fully closed his eyes, as sea breeze lulled him to dream. However, the nice dream he has had to be cut off when noisy voices infiltrated his sleep. He opened one eye only to see a group of men destroyed the sandcastle and picking on the children. Haru was nowhere to be seen. He paid no attention to them, but when the children's cries gotten bigger and louder, Hibari couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing it also as a chance to warm up a bit after nap, he walked towards them. Haru, who went to buy a drink in the nearest stall, confused when a girl came to her and cried. She told Haru that bad people stepped on their sand castle and beat her friends. Haru ran immediately to the beach, only to find the children laughing and pouring sands to five unconscious people. When they saw her, they ran to her and started to tell about a strong man beaten the men with an iron stick and when they looked at him, he gave them a scariest glare they had ever seen.

"Who is this scary man?" Haru asked, although she already knew who was he based on their description, and the kids pointed to Hibari whom already under the umbrella again.

"They disturb my sleep," he said while put on his shoes and stuffed his things to her bag, when Haru asked about his 'heroic act'.

Showing a red-colored shell on her right hand, she smiled, "The kids said 'thank you'."

"I don't need it," he said and simply went ahead, "I'm hungry. You're coming or not?"

Putting the pretty shell inside her bag, she agreed and followed him. The restaurant they entered located not far from the beach, and she took an instant liking on it since she saw the signboard. It wasn't big but quite comfortable and the decorations weren't exaggerating. Their menu set was simple and she understood clearly what kind of food they were (and she thanked the owner and the chef and everyone working there for that). Moreover, it already passed afternoon, so there were just several people ate there. Waiting for their meal to come, Hibari went to the rest room and Haru stayed on their table. That time, her phone rang.

"Haru-san! I'm really sorry!" Haru needed to put it away from her ear because of the sudden wailing right after she said hello.

After several inhaling and exhaling breath, the woman finally calmed down and Haru used it to ask, "Misao, did you do something that makes you apologize to me?"

"No! I…I just heard about Leon-san's death and I'm sorry I haven't called you right away."

"I see. Well, you don't have to be sorry. It's not anyone's fault after all."

Misao started to sob again, "Please don't be sad, Haru-san! I know it's hard to lose such a nice person like him, but I hope it's not affecting your mood and work and-"

Haru laughed when the woman on the other line stop sobbing, "I'm fine, Misao. His death won't affect my mood or anything else you had in mind."

"Really? Can you promise me?"

"Yes, I promise," Haru paused for a moment. "By the way, who told you this?"

"Fujiwara-san told me when he came to the café yesterday. He said you cried so hard when you heard the news and you almost passed out when they buried his body."

Great. Haru noted in mind to give some words to the man if she met him, for telling those lies to Misao. "Anything you want to add?"

"Oh, I got the information you requested. I'll send it now to your email, Haru-san."

"Thank you," Haru said and saw Hibari walked out of the room, "I'll call you later, Misao."

"Okay! My phone is always on except when I sleep," Misao smiled then ended the call.

Haru managed to put her phone in her pocket and smiled as if nothing happened, right before Hibari sat on his chair. Not long after, a waiter came with their meals on his hands.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chrome cornered on the dead end of an old building. She had run non-stop for two hours and her legs almost gave out. Trying to steady her breath, the best option to choose after quick calculation was fighting back her pursuers. Of course, it was silly and impossible, knowing she lost her gun earlier and tiredness engulfed her body. If only her enemies weren't armed with full machine weapons, she could take them down easily. Again, reality beat her hope.

"You have no place to go, Chrome Dokuro," a man's voice caught her attention and she found out she was being targeted with pointing guns.

"Who are you?" she straightened her body and asked with a stern voice to hide her fear.

"My, my, you still have the strength to ask. I thought the drugs have weakened you," he took a step towards the woman.

"What are you talking about?" Chrome shocked but didn't show it.

"Didn't you know? We already targeting both of you since you left the airport. When you two entered this city, it was the chance given to us. The waiter served you in the teahouse is my underling and he put the drugs on your drinks," he smirked.

Chrome gaped at this. That explained why MM collapsed not long after they got out from the teahouse they visited earlier, and the strange fatigue built inside her body. When those people attacked her, she desperately fought them with her leftover power and hoped for a help. She never thought that her holiday would end like this.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I heard you used to have a special relationship with Leon Fermiere," Hibari suddenly said when he and Haru sat in the floor with their backs leaned on the bed of their hotel room, enjoying the television show after dinner.

Haru stared at him as he spoke the thing she wanted to forget. He did hear her conversation back in the Fermiere's place. At least she now knew one reason he took her to this place.

"Yes, I had," she observed his unchanged expression before continued, "Want me to tell you the whole story?"

"No," he said and Haru couldn't resist to smirk seeing him actually unsure between yes or no.

"Are you sure~, Hibari-san?" she saw this as a chance to tease him. "I just don't want to hear you talk in your sleep just because you're curious about it."

"Are you mock me, Haru?" he put his hand on her sides, practically trapping her underneath him. "And I'm not curious of anything."

"Then why do you ask? Someone of your type will not ask about anything that doesn't catch your interest," she put a finger on her lips and thinking. "Or did your head get hit when you beat those guys?"

He moved to his previous position as she started to giggle. She stopped, however, when he looked at her with you-started-to-irk-me look. Apologized for teasing him, Haru climbed the bed and lay downward. She glanced at Hibari, whom busied himself surfing through the channel. Was now the right time to tell him? Playing with the tip of his hair, she sighed before closing her eyes. She knew he was curious but he would never admit it. It would hurt his dignity. Man and his stupid pride, she thought.

"Leon was my friend in college-"

"So you tell me," he said with his oh-so-annoying smirk.

"Shut up if you want me to continue it," she started to speak again. "Aniki introduced me to him. We became friends for...umm…3 months if I'm not mistaken, then he said he loved me. I accepted him without many thoughts. He was such a lovely-cheerful-energetic and a nice man I couldn't resist to adore," Haru stopped to see him twitched. "We have great times together. That, until he found out my bad side. Let's just say my relationship with him didn't go well since then, and we broke up in the end. But, it's alright now because I have you." Haru lay down and grabbed the blanket to cover her body, "Thanks for listening my story."

Hibari said nothing. His brain occupied to process Haru's story he didn't even hear his phone rang, and Haru had to pick it up. Hibari could hear her voice but he didn't understand what she said. He startled when Haru squinted in front of him and told him the news as well as his new mission.

"Chrome was abducted and Tsuna-san wanted you to save her."

* * *

A/n: I managed to post it before this month's over! Hope this one could, at least, answered your question (if you have any) a bit and enjoyable enough to your liking. Well, don't want to burden you with my rant, so I'm just saying the usual things: please read and review (if you like), thank you for reading, and happy New Year!


	12. Chapter 12

Title : Rescuing The Damsels

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Characters: Hibari, Chrome, OC, Haru, Mukuro

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira. The OCs belong to me.

* * *

Hibari leaned on a wall under the shadow of a Romanesque-architecture building in the city of Siracusa, while observing almost similar but bigger building across the street. Based on the information he received from his spy, Chrome was being kept there. The person he had been ordered to save. He was resistant to go at first, heck he actually didn't want to go. If only Tsuna didn't tell him the reason, and if only Haru didn't force him to, he might still stay in Favignana.

"_I'll __be fine by myself," Haru said to him when they parted in front of the helicopter. "Be careful there."_

Somehow, Hibari felt uneasy leaving Haru behind, as if she'd get in trouble as she tended to do everytime he wasn't around her. He could only hope nothing happened to her until she arrived at Vongola base safely. Erasing the thought, he proceeded to enter the destination place, from the front door. He wanted to finish this mission as soon as possible and proved that his hunch was wrong. However, he didn't realize that his movements had been watched by the enemy from the hidden camera around the place.

"Our target has entered the house. What shall we do next?" asked the very same person whom kidnapped Chrome and M.M, to the figure beside him.

The figure laughed evilly before said, "Let's start the party."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari was almost at his limit. He had spent almost one and a half hours searching around the place, but all he could find so far were just some herbivores and empty rooms. There was no sign of Chrome or the person behind this anywhere. Annoyed by the thought of him maybe being toyed, he ended killing those people came in his way and destroyed the place. Meanwhile, somewhere on the same building, someone was watching Hibari through the monitor with hateful look, before he moved his sight to another monitor, which showed unconscious Chrome alone inside a cell, while M.M locked in another place. His man had given them another dose of sleeping medicine and both women surely wouldn't wake up in the next two hours. He smirked as he recited her plan in his mind. Perfect, he thought, and then watched Hibari again.

As seen in the monitor, Hibari was busy rampaging around the place before he arrived in front of an opened door led to a darkened basement. Not thinking long, he walked down the path. He was tired and this game of find-and-seek adding new amount of annoyance to his already annoyed self, as well as lessening his patience. Not to forget his supposed-to-be-peaceful holiday was being ruined. He surely would finish the life of whoever planned these things beforehand. Hibari kept walking, passed through several empty cells, until he reached a dimmed lit room in the end of the basement. It was a small room with a wooden chair and big round table placed in the right corner, and several pictures hung on the left wall. A big cabinet stood in the left corner facing the couch. There, Hibari saw a light-brown-haired man sat on the chair and talked to his phone.

"Yes, he's here," he said then glanced at Hibari. "I understand."

He put his phone inside his pocket and stood up. In a fast movement, he already held a gun in his hand and shot Hibari. The Cloud Guardian immediately dodged the bullet with his tonfa. Staring at each other, both smirked as if the earlier event was just a simple greeting between the two. Without much talk, they started to attack each other. Fighting an opponent with a range weapon, Hibari didn't think much and they involved in a heated battle before Hibari got his opponent's weak point and successfully cornered the man.

"Where's your leader?" Hibari asked with the tip of his tonfa pointed to the neck of the man.

The other man just closed his eyes and started to count down from ten. Hibari, aware with his act, stepped back and at that moment, he felt his energy gone slowly, along with the counting. When the count reached five, he fell to his knees. When the count reached three, his eyes gotten heavier than before. When the count reached one, he no longer could move.

"You-," he weakly said before everything went dark for him, as the count reach zero.

A minute later, two men came and took Hibari away, while the brunette called someone with his cellphone.

"Yeah, I'm finished with him. I'll go to second house now."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari awaken with a pounding pain in his head an hour later. He tried to sit down but quickly fell down to his laying position. His body was powerless, as if someone had drugged him with a high-dose medicine that could empty out his energy as well as immobilized his body. Recalling the previous fight, he most likely got the medicine when he distracted by the enemy's counting, although he didn't know how exactly it happened. Deciding to wait until the effect wore out, Hibari observed the place. He was in a bright white room, with a small bed he occupied right now, a small chair and a square table beside the bed. Nothing more or special, except the three monitor screens hung in front of him. One was off, the rest were on but the visuals were broken. That, until the left monitor became clear and he recognized the figure showed on it.

"Chrome!" Hibari spoke the name.

The person was indeed Chrome Dokuro, the person he had been looking for. She was unconscious and chained to the wall, which was the only thing that kept her standing. Trying hard to sit again but to no avail, Hibari cursed his weakness. If only he didn't fall into enemy's trap, he probably could save her now.

"Ah, you're finally awake! I almost think that you'll sleep until, maybe, another hour?" a feminine voice came from the next monitor. "How do you feel, Mr. Hibari?"

Hibari observed the source of the voice, a slender woman whom wore a dark blue strapless jersey dress. She has long black hair, a pair of grey eyes, white skin, and in summary, a model appearance. Judging from her voice tone and expression, not to forget she knew his name and went this far to kidnap one, no, two guardians of Vongola, she might related to other family that had some unfinished business with Vongola, or might be especially with him.

"Do I know you?" the question blurted out from his lips.

She let out a sweet laugh as one of her hand covered her red lips, "Of course we know each other. Have you forgotten me?"

Hibari slightly confused. Her face did seem familiar to him, but he wasn't sure about that. He still couldn't remember some of his past life after all.

"My, my, that person really did a remarkable job back then. You truly forgot," she smiled smugly. "Well, I am Daniela Teobald, wife of Aroldo Teobald, a person you killed three years ago in Milan."

A spark of light opened one of his locked up memories, as he heard the name, along with a small headache. Aroldo Teobald, a high rank officer in Vongola's network, who betrayed the family by selling the secret of Florence base to the enemy for money. This woman was his right-hand and she was there when his life ended. Hibari's expression caused Daniela to smile widely.

"It seems you now remember me."

----------Flash back-----------

Hibari didn't move from his spot. In front of him, a 26-year old black-haired man tried to stand still with a heavily wounded body, courtesy of the Cloud's attack. Their weapons pointed to each other, not lowering despite the condition of its owner and the place they were in. Fire engulfed the room they occupied, burnt down the furniture as well as the whole hotel's floor. Both were standing in the middle of it, ignoring the heat, the ringing of sirens from the cars outside the hotel, and the panic screams heard from the people trying to escape the building. Hibari's task was clear, killed Aroldo and went back to Palermo. Aroldo's task was clear, tried to kill Hibari and ran away with his family. That was why; they were unable to get out as long as both still alive.

"There's no use of fighting. You know you could never win against me," Hibari said.

Aroldo laughed, "I know I could never win against the strongest guardian of Vongola. I'm fool if I think I could defeat you. At least, I try my best in fighting you."

"Good, because I won't let you go easily."

In a swift movement, Hibari planted his tonfa at Aroldo's stomach, sending him backward and landed on the floor. Coughing blood from his inside wound, Aroldo forced his body to stand up while Hibari walked towards him. He surely didn't let Aroldo escaped after that massive killing of Florence members. Using his last energy, Aroldo tried to shoot him, but Hibari kicked his gun to his side and Aroldo no longer has any weapon to defend his self. In one attack, the Cloud took his life away. When he wanted to get out of the room, a 23-year old Daniela came.

"Aroldo!" she screamed and ran to Aroldo's side. Upon seeing her husband's condition, she cried before turned to Hibari and looked at him hatefully. "Yo-you kill him!"

Hibari didn't say anything as he heard Chrome calling his name.

"Kyouya! Let's go!" the Mist Guardian said from a far. "The firefighter will come in a moment."

Hibari ran to Chrome whom had waiting on the nearest entrance, ignoring the wailing woman whom tried to bring the body of her dead husband outside the burnt room.

"Don't worry, Aroldo. I will avenge your death. They will pay for it," she swore to herself.

-------End of Flashback--------

"Yes, I remember you," Hibari said after the short reminisce.

"Good! I'm happy that you did. That way, I don't have to remind you of that sad memory," she said with a sad expression. "Took me long enough to overcome my grief and concentrate on my revenge. I should thank him for helping me regain my confidence back."

Hibari smirked at this. A girl shared her story. Just like Haru to him.

Daniela continued her talk, "Four months after Aroldo's funeral, I was broken. Liqueur became my best friend. I tried to suicide many times, but my family always succeeded in prolonging my life. Then I met him. A lovely handsome man with deep emerald eyes, captivate everyone whom looks into it, including me. His cheerful and energetic attitude helped me gotten through my bad time. We became friends and we talked a lot. I didn't care whether his words were true or not, I just care that someone actually stayed by my side and willing to listen to my story. When I told him about Aroldo, he told me about his lover whom stolen by another man. Poor Leon. It must be hard for him."

Hibari didn't really listen to Daniela's story at first, since it made him bored although some parts of her story reminded him of something. However, the name caught his attention. Leon? Did she mean Leon Fermiere?

"Yes, Leon Fermiere, Mr. Hibari," she said as if knowing what was in his mind. "The very same person whose woman you had stolen."

What?! Stolen? Hibari never remembered anything about stealing someone's woman. Wait, did she talk about Haru?

"When he offered me his cooperation, I accepted it right away. You want to know why? Because in the end, we realized our enemy is the same person. You are the person who responsible. You took Aroldo from me, and you took his girlfriend from him. You took our loves away."

Some jumbled images appeared in his mind as he tried hard to remember the event which him, Haru, and Leon involved in the past, but sharp pain pounded back on his head. It was as if his brain wouldn't allow him to remember it. However, he caught glimpses of his and Haru's memories.

---

"_You must eat something healthy to fulfill your need of nutrition. Here, try this baked couscous with zucchini herbs I specially made just for you!" Haru smiled and passed him a bowl of strange-looking rice-based dishes which surprisingly could invite his appetite. _

"_Is it edible?" he teased her and she only replied with a pout._

"_Of course it is. Don't underestimate my cooking skill. Oh, maybe you want me to feed you?" she teased him back and Hibari preferred to eat it without much talk._

-x-

"_No! No! No! The red __one is better and it will fit our bed perfectly. Just because your flame color is purple doesn't mean everything in our home has to be in purple," she argued when they searched for a new curtain for their bedroom._

"_That is my house and I can put whatever I want into it," Hibari still stick to his opinion._

"_Nope. I don't care even though you're the landlord or whatever, I'm still disapprove of purple curtain."_

-x-

"_You better take your hands off her right now," Hibari said to a man who__se hand on Haru's neck._

"_She's my woman. I can do anything I want to her. You have no rights to tell me what am I supposed to do," the man laughed and tightening his grip that started to choke an already pale Haru._

"_No, you're wrong," Hibari replied as he dashed towards the man._

-x-

"Kyouya!"

Hibari's eyes snapped open as Haru's voice called his name and the last images flashed through his mind. The headache still lingered but not as painful as before. He didn't pay any attention since his mind still wandered to the images he had seen earlier. What were those? And how could he hear Haru's voice here? He suddenly remembered Tsuna's statement when he called the Vongola's leader after Haru told him the mission.

----------Flash back-----------

"Why does it have to be me?" he asked Tsuna directly when the 10th answered his call.

"If you ask me why, it's because you know the culprit very well, Hibari," Tsuna answered calmly. "I could send another guardian to rescue Chrome, but you are more suitable to the task."

"'Just because I know this person'. That is a very poor excuse," Hibari sneered.

Tsuna sighed, "You'll understand when you arrive there, Hibari."

-------End of Flashback--------

Yes, he now truly understood why he had to be the one to do this. It was merely because he was the reason behind their vengeance. Chrome's cry drew his attention back to his surrounding. She was nowhere to be seen in the monitor, as well as Daniela. He looked around and found he was still lying down on the same bed in the same room, but now he got his strength back.

"I have enough for all this."

He stood up and saw his tonfa on the table, with a piece of paper rested beside it. Reading the sentences written on it, he smirked as he understood the meaning and the purpose. The game has started.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Mukuro-chan! Let's go home!" M.M said to none other the Mist Guardian of Vongola.

Mukuro simply followed M.M walking out of the building, where a black car had waiting for them on a park lot not far from it. He had freed her from people that confined her previously. He did it without problems, seeing that those people were way weaker than him. He even didn't need to use his box weapon to defeat them all. Still, he was kind of confused. Their informant clearly said that Chrome and M.M brought to one location, but the fact they weren't. M.M was confined in a building near Church of San Giovanni, while Chrome was in a building near Piazza Archimede. He didn't understand why did they separate the confinement? It'd be easier if they put the captives in one place and not two places. Maybe, just maybe, if one of the two successfully rescued by Vongola, they still had another captive as a back-up. But, why would they do that? He understood if it was Chrome, but not M.M, since the previous was more valuable to enemies than the later.

"Mukuro-chan? Is there something wrong?" M.M asked worriedly.

"Ah nothing," Mukuro smiled and continued walking. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the building they had left. "M.M, why don't you wait in car? I left something back there."

Ignoring her question, Mukuro entered the building again. He had searched the whole building while taking down the enemies before, but there was one part of the building he hasn't look for. A part of building that could only be accessed by a locked door in the highest floor. Taking the stairs to the upper part, Mukuro advanced further to a place he's been directed by his instinct. When he arrived on his destination, he observed the door. It was worn out, the green paint peeled on some parts, spider webs adorned it, not to mention the old rusty padlock on its handle, as if the door hasn't been opened for ages. If his hunch and what he heard was right, he could make Hibari regretted his decision to leave this part of rescue to him. Breaking the padlock with his trident, he entered the surprisingly-clean-and-bright lane until he arrived in front of another door similar to the previous. When he opened it, he immediately greeted by a view of full moon and starry sky from a wide window. He stepped inside the dark room, only illuminated by the moonlight. In front of the window, stood a womanly figure whom he familiar with.

"Haru?"

Said woman turned to him, "Who are you?"

* * *

A/n: Still need to learn much. Comment, criticism, and review are most welcome and appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

Title : Rescuing The Damsels [Part 2]

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Characters: Hibari, Chrome, OC, Haru, Mukuro

Disclaimer: Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

At Tsuna's office, Gokudera sat uncomfortably on his seat while accompanying Tsuna in finishing his report before they closed the activities for today. He fidgeted between asking a question occupied his mind for the entire day, or not. If he asked, it meant he didn't trust his leader's decision, but, if he didn't ask, he would die wondering. In the end, his curiosity won over his will.

"Tenth, may I ask you something?"

Tsuna looked at his silver-haired guardian, knowing already what kind of question he wanted to ask but decided to humour him. "Are you tired?"

Gokudera frowned at Tsuna's question, "I'm not, Tenth, and that's not what I want to ask. I want to know, why did you send those two together?"

Yep, he voiced it. "You don't trust them to finish their job?"

Gokudera shook his head, "No, it's not like that. I know they can finish it, but I still don't get why you paired them together. I mean, they have a bad relationship to each other and who might know what they'll do if something happen between them."

Tsuna propped his chin with his palm. "Don't worry, Gokudera-kun. They'll finish it surely and successfully. If the things' going wrong, I'll send Yamamoto-kun, or…do you want to go instead?"

Gokudera sent a disbelief look to his leader and shook his head again before went back to do his previous work. Tsuna laughed and continued to read the report lying on his table again. He could never tell Gokudera the real reason of why he put Hibari and Mukuro together in this rescue.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Mukuro stared at the woman. Did she really say what he thought he just heard?

"Haru, it's me, Mukuro Rokudo. Don't you remember me?" Mukuro asked as he approached the woman.

He stood right in front of her, fast-observing her appearances. She didn't say anything, only gave him an odd look. She definitely was Haru, he was sure of it. He wouldn't be mistaken, after knowing her for years. He didn't know why she forgot him, but he could deal with that later. His priority right now was to get them all to a safe place, and he could do that after got out of the room first.

"Let's leave this place," he said and turned around, prepared to leave when she didn't move. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, but I don't-"

Haru didn't complete her sentence as she suddenly fainted, and Mukuro managed to catch her before she touched the floor. Five minutes passed away when she finally opened her eyes again.

"Feeling better?"

"Hahi!" The woman startled and almost fell of the bed, upon hearing Mukuro's voice right next to her ear. "Ro-Rokudo-san?!"

"You remember me," Mukuro smiled with relief. "You got me worried here, Haru."

Haru was confused. "What do you mean? I never forget you."

Mukuro found it strange to hear her statement despite her act earlier, although it wasn't so surprising since Shamal has told them about her illness. Maybe her illness relapsed before and because of that she simply forgot him. But, was it that simple? Well, let's just play it, he told himself.

"Ano…where is this, Rokudo-san?" she asked while glancing around the room.

"We're in a building near Church of San Giovanni, Siracusa."

She gaped. "Siracusa?! N-not Palermo?"

"You can see it for yourself if you don't believe me." Mukuro chuckled when hearing her reply before became quiet again, "Haru, do you remember anything before you ended up here?"

"Not really. I remembered taking cab from Punta Raisi to Palermo. But somehow, before I passed Carini, I felt tired and sleepy. Maybe I played too much in Favignana. I thought I'd sleep for a while until I arrived in Palermo, but it seemed I never reached my destination."

"Nothing else?" he asked unsure with her answer, because if she said the truth it meant he couldn't ask further about the reason behind her presence here.

"If I know, I wouldn't ask you where is this at first place, Rokudo-san," she said and smiled.

When he wanted to ask more, suddenly a loud sound of gun firing followed by an explosion heard outside. Both man and woman looked out from the window and found the car previously occupied by his driver and MM on the park lot already engulfed with fire. Not thinking long, Mukuro grabbed her hand and ran outside with her behind him. They found MM and the driver lay not far from the burnt vehicle and approached them.

"They're fine, just unconscious, maybe from the explosion," Haru said after checking their condition.

Mukuro relaxed although it didn't last long seeing that several men appeared before them with a gun. One of them stepped forward, the very same man whom fought Hibari earlier. Mukuro didn't recognize him, but he felt familiar someway.

Haru gasped at the man. "You!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari was enraged. If only he didn't remember the object in front of him right now belonged to the nation, he would surely destroy it to pieces.

"Damn thing," he muttered before turned around and continued walking.

The object he mentioned was a fountain with a statue of Goddess Artemis. He has no grudge against the figure and he kind of admired it, thanked to someone's influence on his art sense. However, the facts that the time had past midnight and the statue hide the clue he was looking for the past ten minutes really got on his nerves. He had searched around Piazza Archimede to find a clue containing the next location of Chrome, based on the direction that written on the paper he had read before. He wasn't a thinker and he found this kind of game annoying. Usually, it was Haru who did the thinking and he did the beating. Of course, he couldn't ask her knowing doing so would make him dependent to her again. Yes, he hated to admit it, but Haru really helped him a lot. And, knowing this was her sleep time, he didn't want to wake her up by calling her and asking for a help. When he finally found the paper on one part of the statue, he felt proud to himself. Glancing at his watch, he only got five more minutes before the limit time. As written on the paper, his next destination is the Duomo.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Inside her room in her base, Daniela was walking around in circle, thinking about the next step considering the situation slightly off her plan now.

"_They sent another guardian__, and I'm facing that guardian right now."_

That was the report given to her not long ago. She wasn't surprise by this news since Leon had warned her.

"_Don't be surprise if they send more than one guardian. Regarding the matter you'__re in, their leader won't be careless to send him alone. You better have a good plan."_

She knew it would happen, that's why she decided to drag the other woman in as well. If Leon was still alive, he would curse her to death for having his lover involved. She didn't care much as long as her revenge fulfilled. While throwing disgusted look to a still sleeping Chrome in the corner of the room, Daniela repeated the oath she made in front of Aroldo's grave.

"I'll make him pay your death, Aroldo."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru sat with her weapon, a small handgun Mukuro gave her, readied to shoot any enemy came into her sight, just like a beast defending its territory. Or at least, that was what it looked like for her, though she was far from a beast and she actually trembled in fear. Mukuro was fighting the gang and she was in charge of keeping an eye to her friends. Not really friends, because she has only known M.M as Chrome's and Mukuro's friend, and the driver was one of Tsuna's worker. Still, they were members of Vongola and she had to keep them safe. She couldn't let them fall to enemy's hand again, not after Mukuro fought hard to take them back from the group all in while protecting her, especially from the brown-haired man who happened to be the same man whom kidnapped her.

----------Flash back-----------

"You know him, Haru?" Mukuro asked to her.

"He is the driver of the cab I took in Punta Raisi," Haru answered not taking her eyes from him.

"You remember, woman," the man said to Haru before turned to Mukuro, "So you're the infamous Mist Guardian of Vongola. I've always wanted to meet you ever since I've known your name and reputation. Too bad we meet in this awful situation. If only we weren't, maybe we could chat about a lot of things."

"I feel honoured to have such invitation," Mukuro smiled.

"Well, I haven't introduced myself, right? I'm Elia Teobald, brother of Aroldo Teobald."

-------End of Flashback--------

Mukuro eyed the people in front of him. The other men besides Elia were not his match, but their number was annoying. Who could have guessed there was this number of people still wide awake at this hour? Thankfully their driver has gained his consciousness so that he could help Haru. She wasn't like Chrome, Bianchi, or I-Pin, but Mukuro could leave M.M on her hand for a while, at least until he took care of the underlings.

Haru didn't open her eyes when Mukuro started his illusion. She didn't want to sink into whatever image he played on, although it didn't help her at all. The illusion affected her somehow, tickling her memory and recalled something from her past. Ones involving the person name Elia Teobald.

"Don't close your eyes in a battlefield, woman," the voice surprised her.

When he opened her eyes, she found Elia stood in front of her with strange smile. Their driver lay beside her with blood came from his arm, shot by Elia. Before she could say anything, he had pulled her hand and injected something to it in a fast movement. What was that?

"Let's take a walk," he pulled her up and dragged her away.

Haru couldn't get out of Elia's clutch. She tried to call Mukuro but his hand covered her mouth. She couldn't even fight him when he shoved her inside his car. She felt her body gradually lost its energy after the injection. What kind of liquid being injected to her earlier? When Mukuro finished with his opponents, he caught a glimpse of Haru being taken away before rushed to the side of his injured driver and M.M. He needed to know their condition first before chasing Elia and Haru.

"Are you okay?"

The man tried to sit and speak, "I'm fine, sir. Haru-san, she is-"

"I know. I'll leave things here to you," Mukuro said before left for his targets with the nearest functional car he could find.

In the car, Elia muttered something non-stop. He turned to Haru only to smile strangely again. Putting his sight on the road again, his hand travelled on Haru's arm and face. She tried to stop his act but her body still wouldn't follow her command. When they entered via Amalfitania after 20 minutes rides, the car speeded up, along with his chuckles. When Elia suddenly spoke of the reason behind his act and what awaiting them in the place they were heading to, Haru had to do something. She desperately tried hard to concentrate in moving her body. Few exhales and inhales, she could move a bit although she needed more to prevent him to drive further. When the car entered Aretusa Passage, she gained enough energy to do what she had to do. She took the handgun on the dashboard and tried to shoot Elia's head. The man saw what she did and managed to avoid the bullet in the last second. Shouting curses and with a hand controlling the steer, Elia tried to take the gun from Haru's hand with his free hand. Both fought each other until in one moment, the gun being shot twice. One in Haru's right thigh, one in Elia's left arm. The pain shocked him he lost control of the car. The car slipped and spun five times before Elia could control it again. However, he was too late. Haru screamed as their car went straight to the passage's stone wall and ended on it.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It took five minutes ride for Hibari from Piazza Archimede to Duomo. The building was one of the town's most celebrated sights. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the mood of sightseeing right now. He entered the Duomo from the back entrance since the one in the front was locked. Taking a walk on the dim-lighted path inside the building, Hibari cautiously searched for a lead on Chrome's whereabouts. The clue clearly mentioned about the cathedral and no place in Ortigia has the same description as this place. As he walked by, he couldn't help but to observe the building's interior. He could see the influences of Greek, Byzantine, Arabic, and Norman cultures on its interior, although some of the parts were rebuilt in Baroque style since the earthquake event in the past. He wasn't an art expert, but he enjoyed it.

Tired of walking around, Hibari sat on one of the bench in the main hall and looked at his watch. He had spent fifteen minutes in this place. Closing his eyes and relaxing his body for a while, his mind still thought of the clue. Why Daniela wanted him to go here at first? Wasn't it risky to do some murdering in this kind of place? Moreover, why was this place so quiet? Many thoughts ran through his mind before he decided to erase them and a single thing suddenly popped on his head. Hibari hurriedly went to the place his mind led him to.

Soon after, he stood in front of the statue of St. Lucia, the patron saint of Siracusa, which enshrined on a small room by the exit of the Duomo. What was odd about this place? He walked closer, checked out the painting, and any other things on the small room before stopped at the relic. There was something wrong with the left part and when he pushed the part out of curiosity, a hidden door slowly opened behind the painting. He stared at it for a while before entered it. After short walk, he could see the exit. When he arrived, all he could find was just an empty room.

"What the-"

"Finally you arrive," Daniela's image suddenly appeared on a small monitor on the round table in the middle of the room.

"What's the meaning of this?" Hibari tried to suppress his anger before he could get a clear answer from the woman.

Daniela smiled, "What do you think about the Duomo? Beautiful isn't it? It maybe not as beautiful and as big as the one in Milan, but it's still has its own uniqueness."

Daniela went on and on about the building until Hibari almost lost his temper, "Where is she?"

"Do you miss her that badly?" Daniela chuckled, "Don't worry, she's safe here with me."

The image of Daniela changed into image of Chrome, and Hibari felt relieved for a moment.

"Aw, you get all happy just by seeing her image, don't you? I thought you already have another woman in your life. Poor her for having someone's like you."

Hibari shot her an angry and questioning look. She clearly talked about Haru, but what's the point of talking about the brunette?

"Shall we continue the game?" Daniela said and showed a small bottle in her hand. "I'll give you 15 minutes to get here and take this thing from my hand, before I give it to her. And for your information, I can't guarantee our lovely Chrome will survive another shoot of this."

"So in the end, I only have one place to go."

She sniggered, "Doesn't it feel good to have a hope that you finally able to meet and save your lover, though seconds later you lost it because the reality crush your hope?"

That's it. "Where. Are. You?"

"Meet me at the cape of Ortigia."

Not wasting time, Hibari ran back to previous room before heading exit. When he walked past the back entrance, something suddenly stopped his step.

"Haru?" he asked to no one.

Hibari really felt uneasy now. Why did he think about Haru so often today? Was something happen to her? But, she was in Vongola base right now, right? He shook his head. Assuring himself that nothing's wrong, Hibari hopped on his car and rode on its highest speed to the end of Ortigia, the Castello Maniace.

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A/n: I just realized I made a mistake in chapter 11. Not that it affected the story, but it really bugged me. Well, hope you like this chapter. Comment, criticism, and review are most welcome and appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

Title : Rescuing The Damsels [Part 3]

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Characters: Hibari, Chrome, OC, Haru, Mukuro

Disclaimer: Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

[Rome, one year and eleven months ago]

It was one warm night in March. A 22-year old Haru sat while reading a literature book on a small couch beside Hibari, whom still lay on his hospital bed in comatose state. Hibird perched sleeping on his usual spot in Hibari's bed and Kusakabe was out looking for food. Today was the fourth day she spent in Rome and stayed beside the Cloud Guardian, since he had his surgery six days ago. The doctor responsible for Hibari said that she didn't have to worry and just waited patiently, because Hibari would wake up eventually though he hadn't wake up until now. Putting the book aside, Haru moved the chair to his side, and held his hand. That way, she felt like she communicated with him although no words spoken. She continued until she fell asleep on her couch, her arms on his bedside as her pillow. She didn't sleep long because the bad dream she has had awoken her. Going to the bathroom to wash her face, she suddenly heard Hibird's voice panicky called her.

"What's wrong, Hib-," she asked when opening the door, only to find the bright room was darkened and a man stood before the window, pointing a gun to Hibari.

When he saw her, on reflect, Haru ran to him, but stopped when a bullet planted on the wall, an inch off her head but it brushed her cheek. It would be right on her head if only Hibird didn't peck the man's hand. She stepped back but lost her balance and fell on her butt. Hibird then flew around the man's head and distracted his concentration again. Annoyed by the bird, the man aimed Hibird. Haru grabbed the vase on top of a small table beside her and threw it at him, causing the weapon fell off his hand, but the bullet already released. His shot was shifted but it hit Hibird's right wing.

"Hibird!" she shouted as the bird flew slowly to her direction before landed abruptly on the floor.

Haru quickly scooped Hibird in her hands and managed to roll over to her right before another shot came to her. When she put Hibird on the floor, a kick landed on her stomach and the force sent her backward.

"I'll deal with you after my job's over," he coldly said before kicked her on the same spot again, causing her to spit out some blood.

Haru cursed mentally. She didn't have the chance against his weapon, seeing her own weapon stored inside her bag on the bedside table Hibird occupied earlier. If only his gun didn't have the silencer, someone definitely came and helped her right now. Where was Kusakabe when she needed him? The man walked towards Hibari and prepared to shoot him when Hibird appeared before him once again and blocked his view.

"Fucking bird!" the man said before caught Hibird with one hand and threw it to the wall so hard Hibird didn't move after that.

Haru stared at the view. She couldn't think logically anymore. Without long thought, she grabbed a fruit knife lay not far from her and stood up, "Hey, you."

As the man turned to her, Haru threw the knife to him with the perfect accuracy she could ever reach, at the same time the man shot her. The knife went straight to his head, as the bullet went straight to hers. Everything went slowly, like a video played in a slow mode. Both watched the objects passed each other before successfully landed on its destination. The bullet was on her right chest and the knife was on his right eye. Bullseye. Those hellish aiming practices with her teacher was really useful. However, what a coincidence everything hit the right part of the body in this event, she amused. She watched him screamed in agony as the blood flowed from his injured eye.

"Fucking bitch! You'll pay for this! Aargh!" he wailed after taking off the knife from his eye and the pain spread over his head.

Haru didn't reply him, only panting heavily in her position. Right after the shot, she fell down on the floor. She couldn't move even if she wanted to, and she did nothing even when the man walked to her with the knife on his hand and lifted her with her collar. Being this close to him, Haru saw his face clearly, even though the room was only lighted by the moon's light. A handsome young brunette, whose looks full of hatred and loneliness.

"Haru-san! What hap-," Kusakabe came in with two of his men, causing the man to turn to him.

"Shit!" he cursed and fled through the opened window followed by Kusakabe's men. Kusakabe himself called for doctor and nurse before approached Haru whom try to crawl to Hibird's place.

"Haru-san! Please don't move!" he tried to stop her movement but Haru's eyes only fixed at Hibird.

"Hibird…he…Ku-Kusakabe, help him…," Haru pleaded the man before everything went dark for her.

-------Two days later-------

"I'm really sorry, Haru-san. They had tried their best but they couldn't save Hibird," Kusakabe said not long after she woke up.

Haru said nothing, but her tears were a clear answer to Kusakabe. He felt bad for coming late. Had he came sooner, Haru wouldn't hurt like this and Hibird wouldn't die. He couldn't imagine what Hibari would do if he knew about this. Then, he remembered something.

"Haru-san, that person left this thing when he ran away," he said and gave her a silver ring. "Maybe you know something about it."

Haru received the ring only to stare at it in disbelief. She stayed silent until Kusakabe got her out of her reverie. She shook her head.

"I'll ask Misao to search for it," she said to him and he nodded in understanding.

After he left, Haru looked at the ring again. A simple ring with two words carved on the inside part. A ring she never thought could meet again. But, how could that man possessed it?

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Haru abruptly opened her eyes as a sharp pain came from her injured thigh. She was lying on the asphalt road of Aretusa Passage, near the wrecked car. She found Elia lay unconsciously on the other side of the car. Both managed to jump out in the last minute before the car met the wall. They were lucky the car didn't explode with them unconscious beside it. Suddenly, she recalled their previous conversation. The reason behind his act and what awaited them in the end of Aretusa Passage. She was afraid with the later one. If he said the truth, it meant Hibari was there. If Hibari saw her like this, he would think of her as a burden again. No way she'd let him do that. She wanted to escape from here, but it almost two in the morning, meaning no one would pass the road. The only method she could think of at this time was walking. After wrapping her wound with her torn-up jacket and gathering her strength, Haru tried to walk, practically dragging her right leg, to the opposite of her supposed-to-be destination.

Elia awoke not long after Haru left the place. The throbbing pain on his arm made him producing chain of curses directed to his captive. After making sure the only injury he had was from the shot, he checked his surrounding. Haru was nowhere to be found. The car was total wreck and couldn't be saved. His phone was broken from the fall impact of his body, and he couldn't contact his men to fetch him. Knowing she wouldn't go to Castello Maniace, Elia trailed the road to the opposite direction. The tracking became clear when he found drops of blood in here and there along his way. The nearest place he knew she could reach with her present condition was only one. He smirked before continuing his walk. He wouldn't let her got away again this time.

Mukuro found no one when he arrived. He sure was glad because it meant Haru still alive, but judging from the disappearance of another person he knew Haru was together with before the accident, it meant she was still in danger. But where would those two gone? Did he miss them on his way here? Observing around the place, he found the same trail Elia found before. Riding the car to the place he believed she was heading to, Mukuro hoped he didn't arrive late.

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Haru stopped in front of a closed café on a narrow passage she had blindly taken. The blood loss combined with her fatigue slowed down her speed by each step she took. At times like this, she wished she brought one of Aniki's power drinks. It proved successfully refilling one's energy although not to its fullest. At least it was better than none. If she had any with her right now, she probably could walk faster. The place she chose to stop wasn't helping her at all. Every place alongside the passage was closed. Wonder why there wasn't even one place open here. Maybe since it was past midnight? Whatever the cause, she had to walk again because sooner or later Elia would find her if she stayed here for too long.

"Gotcha!" This fast!?

Haru paled as she turned around and saw Elia stood not far from her. Every step he took forward, she took backward. It continued until her body hit the steel fence. She glanced over her shoulder and looked down. There was a spring with papyrus plants below.

"What do you see?" Elia asked as he was getting closer to Haru.

Haru ran with difficulty, as far as her body allowed to, but her right leg couldn't support her for long. After 10-meter distance, she fell down again for the umpteenth times. God, how she really wished for that power drinks now. Not to forget how she hated the strange liquid that previously drained her strength. Elia arrived beside her and lifted her with her collar. Strange. It felt familiar to her.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked and glared at her.

She could see his face clearly. It was really familiar to her she felt like having a déjà vu. She was wounded and lifted by her collar, by a handsome young brunette with cold look. But, there was something wrong with his right eye.

"It's like the past, right?" he smirked again. "And now, you'll pay for what you did with my eye."

His expression and statement made her remembered the assassination happened almost two years ago. And Elia was that man. A man who intended to kill Hibari, a man who caused Hibird's death, and a man whose right eye was stabbed with a knife she threw at. Shocked by her own memory, she frantically fought to get out of his grip. Elia tried to tighten his hold, but a kick from Haru on his stomach was enough to cross his patience. He pushed her unconsciously too hard she crashed in the middle of the rusty fence behind her. It couldn't hold her body and adding the force of the impact, the fence was breaking apart, letting her body fell freely.

"Wha-"

Elia tried to catch her hand but she had fallen midway to the spring five meters below. Instead landed on the small stone pavement surrounding the spring, Haru fell to the water with a loud splash sound. She stood and walked slowly to the stone stairs on the other side of the springs before collapsed on it. She was soaked, and it'd be a miracle if she didn't catch a cold or fever or whatever after this was over. At least, she was still alive since the water cushioned her body although the pain was almost the same. Elia jumped down through the broken fence and landed on the pavement after seeing Haru still conscious. He walked to her side and Haru just following his movement with her eyes. She couldn't move anymore. She was really tired now she didn't care what he would do to her, though she secretly hoped someone would come to help her.

"How was Fonte Aretusa's water? It's refreshing, right?" he said then approached the water and dipped his finger on it. "Daniela loves this place. Me, Aroldo and her, we always spend our weekend together here. Aroldo would sit beside the statue, and she would feed the ducks. Even after Aroldo's death, she always had the time to come here with me. Too bad, that person came and ruined it. He occupied her time, making her forgot about this place."

Haru rolled her eyes. Here she was, tired and injured, lay on the stone stairs in her wet clothes, while listening to a man sharing about his unrequited love to his brother's wife. What a day she had today.

"But now I have her again!" he suddenly grabbed her collar and laughed maniacally. "After I took his life, she finally has the time for me again. I know it broke her heart, but I didn't care. That loathsome Fermiere deserved to die after all."

What? What did he say? He said Fermiere. Which Fermiere did he talk about? He didn't talk about Leon, right? No, it was impossible. Leon couldn't be killed by him. Besides, Rosa told her that Leon died in a car accident, not killed by someone. But, what if this person said the truth? The confusion clearly showed in Haru's face and Elia couldn't help but smirked. She flinched as his free hand started to caress her cheek.

"I killed Leon Fermiere," Elia softly whispered in her ear, "I killed your beloved Leon with his own drug."

Haru was in shock. She couldn't believe what she had heard. Leon was killed. She was too absorbed by this fact she didn't fight when Elia pulled out his gun and put it on her forehead.

"I should have brought you to Castello Maniace as instructed, but you know too much. Besides, killing you here is just the same with killing you there," he sniggered and prepared to pull the trigger. "Have a nice sleep."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," a voice heard behind them.

What Elia saw almost made him jump out of his skin. Mukuro stood in the middle of the spring, with three pillars of raging water behind him. The night sky turned into red, as red as blood colour. The now red-coloured water pillars were moving along his trident's movement. When Mukuro pointed it to Elia, the waters surged at him, drowning him to the endless bottom as well as taking his life. Mukuro sighed while watching the whole event. He wondered why it was so difficult to kill Elia before if killing him now was this easy. After ensuring his victim's death, Mukuro rushed to Haru's side.

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Hibari stood not far from Castello Maniace's main gate. After observing the place with telescope since two minutes ago and adding new information from his informant, Hibari has pretty much known the condition inside the place. From his position, he could see two people were guarding the gate, six on the highest floor of the building in the middle part, three on the far point of the cape, and maybe more since he couldn't see through the stone wall. He didn't know the exact number of the people inside the place, but his informant stated that there has to be 47 or 50 people inside. Minus the ones he had seen, there were 36 or 39 people unseen somewhere. Quite a number for morning exercise, he thought. Why did it seem like a suicide mission right now? At least he wouldn't end up in a car accident like the one he saw before.

Speaking about the car accident, he wondered about it again. When he got out Piazza Duomo, he saw a wrecked car lay about twenty meters from him near the wall in Aretusa Passage. Judging from the car's condition, he wondered how fast the driver rode it before crashed at the wall. Then again, what kind of person drove that fast almost at two in the morning? Maybe because the road was empty the driver took it as a sign to speed up as fast as he wanted. Though curious, Hibari didn't observe long because he has something more important to do, saving his comrade's life.

Looking at his watch, Hibari counted his limit time. 01.55. Five minutes left before another injection being given to Chrome. Well, act first, think later. As he prepared his weapon, Hibari walked toward the main gate. The guards saw him and they rang a bell to the entire citadel, signaling his arrival. Hibari smirked. Act first, think later.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru was lost in her thought, not caring her surrounding. Inside her mind, her brain played some scenes from her past with Leon. The one when he gave her a bouquet of pinkish white lily on her birthday, the one when he beat a muscular shady man from robbing her purse, and last, the one when he proudly said that he wouldn't die so easily. Why did those happy memories resurfaced now? Why not the bad ones?

"Haru…Haru…Haru!" Mukuro's voice sneaked in her mind before sent her back to reality.

Haru jolted from her sitting position, almost toppled Mukuro whom squinted down beside her. She looked around, and saw Elia's dead body. The previous event came back to her, the fact she had learned from Elia occupied her mind making her forgot about her physical pain.

"_I killed Leon Fermiere."_

One simple sentence that broken her heart. Why Leon has to be killed by that kind of man? The sadness and anger bubbled up inside her but she didn't know how to react to it.

"Are you alright?" Mukuro asked softly when she faced him, despite the fact he knew she wasn't.

She nodded but failed at preventing her body to shake and her tears to leak out. Mukuro used his jacket to cover Haru's body from the cold wind, but she suddenly hugged him and cried. She poured all the pain she felt inside into her tears. Mukuro was speechless as he wasn't used in dealt with crying woman, and although it wasn't the first time Haru cried in front of him, she never gone this far by hugging him. Not to mention she was wet from head to toe. He glanced at his watch, 02.05. No wonder it was this cold. He looked at the woman. With her soaked clothes, he hoped she didn't catch a cold. At least, if she could cry like this, it meant she was fine and it also meant the medicine worked. He should thank that man later. Unsure between comforting her and pushing her aside, he chose to do nothing and stay still until she no longer cried.

"Come," Mukuro helped her to stand and led the woman to the car. "Let's go home, Haru."

Haru glanced at the place for the last time before left. Fonte Aretusa, the embodiment of the nymph Aretusa, the handmaid of Artemis. She didn't share her feeling with Alpheus, the son of Oceanus, whom madly in love with her. When Artemis turned Aretusa into a water source, Zeus also turned Alpheus into a river, allowing him to meet Aretusa. Somehow, Haru felt that the relationship between Aretusa and Alpheus was similar to her relationship with Hibari. Hibari was Aretusa, she was Alpheus. She chased him, hoping for a day when he would accept her. Could the day when Aretusa finally accepted Alpheus also happen to her and Hibari?

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Daniela stared at the phone in her hand. She didn't hear it wrong, right?

"He had defeated most of our men! And he heads for Pianta now!" the panic sound of her underling clearly visible, between the gun firings behind him.

"What!? What are you doing letting him get here!?" she shouted and it flinched the man. "Call our back-up!"

"Ye-yes!"

Daniela flung the phone down, practically cursing her men, her targets, and her brother. Elia hadn't reported about his progress which he should've given to her since half an hour ago. Was something happen to him? It might be, especially if one Vongola guardian was hot on his tail. Damn, she thought. Her situation wasn't good. If Hibari caught her right now, she couldn't get her revenge done. Chrome, who had gained her consciousness when the phone started, heard the whole conversation.

"You'll lose, Daniela," she smiled.

Daniela approached Chrome and slapped her before lifting her chin, "Did you say something, Little Miss?"

"I said 'YOU'LL LOSE'", Chrome hissed and it earned her another slap.

If only she still had any strength left in her body, she would reply Daniela's action with another slap or even kick. Daniela laughed as she saw the hateful expression on Chrome's face.

"You can say what you want, but I won't," she smirked and grabbed Chrome's hand, "Let's have a stroll."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari was bored. It had past ten minutes since he entered the place and all he could do were just beating and beating and beating. Nothing else. He hoped for an intermezzo where someone strong appeared and he would have an interesting fight. But, it was just a hope in the end. The people he beat so far were weaklings and although their guns gave him difficult time for a while, he could easily defeat them with his tonfa. Well, he used his box weapon when walking through the front field though, to protect him from the bullets rain. Overall, he found the fights uninteresting. As he entered Pianta, Daniela's image showed on the small monitor in the center wall.

"Congratulations for getting this far! However, you have passed your limit time and it means you're too late," Daniela chuckled as a painful gasp heard beside her. "Oh~, poor Chrome…you must be suffered. Don't worry, you'll feel nothing after that. Just sit here and behave like a good girl, okay?"

"You…give it to her?" Hibari asked while trying to calm himself.

"Of course I have. That's our deal, right? Fifteen minutes to get the bottle from me, and you're both save. If not, then bye-bye Chrome," she smiled sweetly.

Hibari's short fuse has been lit up. He destroyed the monitor without long thought and almost destroyed the whole place, just to calm his feeling. He halted in the middle of his act when he suddenly remembered something.

"_Don't destroy everything just because you're angry. You're not a kid anymore."_

He laughed at this. Why did he have to remember it now? Nonetheless, it stopped his silly action. He should thank her later. Getting a fresh mind, he thought about what to do next. Considering Chrome's condition and the situation, he had to help her faster before she got the full effect of whatever the thing has been given to her. He needed to find them first, but where would they be? Based on the previous monitor's image, both were in an open place, based on the sound of wind breeze once in a while. It gave three options, the front field, the Pianta's roof, and the cape. They were most likely in the high place, since nothing covered the view behind Daniela. It left two, the cape and the roof. If he didn't mistaken, there was a small tower in one corner of the place. There was only one place in Castello Maniace that fulfilled the three conditions, the Pianta's roof. When he arrived there, a sight of crouched Chrome and Daniela petted her welcoming him.

"You're quite smart, , for locating my position this fast. And here I am, thinking you'd be useless without your partner," Daniela stood up and said.

"What do you mean?" Hibari asked unsure.

Daniela stared at him, "You…don't know? That's good then. Even if my foolish brother dies, he does his task well."

"If you talked about M.M., I don't care," Hibari replied nonchalantly although deep inside, the bad feeling came again.

Daniela laughed at this, "Who said I talk about that bitch?"

Huh? Who did she talk about, then? Hibari lost his concentration for a while and Daniela used this chance to pull out a handgun from her pocket and pointed it to Chrome's head. When Hibari realized it, she was about to pull the trigger when suddenly a bullet came from nowhere, hit her gun as well as flung it away from her. Both Hibari and Daniela were surprised by this, all the way more when a black chopper appeared from her behind. It was Vongola's. It landed not far from Hibari, and two people came out from it, his informant and Mukuro's driver. The one who shot Daniela was the informant.

"What are you two doing here?" Hibari asked slightly annoyed.

"The other captive had been saved. We were ordered to fetch you, Hibari-san, and to give this medicine to Chrome-san," the driver said and took out a small orange bottle from his bag.

Daniela stood unmoved. The other captive had been saved. Elia was really dead. The only important person she has ever since Aroldo's death. The only person she believed and adored of all the people she had met. She couldn't meet him again, couldn't see his smile as he talked to her again. She couldn't go to Fonte Aretusa and fed the ducks with him again. Tears flowed through her cheeks before she ran to one corner of the roof. Hibari immediately chased after her, while the other two approached Chrome.

"I'm still amazed that this thing can save Chrome-san," the informant said to the other man when he injected the thick liquid to Chrome's arm.

"_It__ will help Chrome to survive the drug's effect. At least, until she arrives in Palermo and gets a proper remedy and medication," Haru said before she left with Mukuro._

"It's not enough to counter the drug inside her body, but it'd save her for now," he replied.

A burst of laugh caused the two to turn to the corner place, where Hibari stood before Daniela, with a purple flame emitted from his tonfa. Just by a glance, they knew he was angry.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Hibari asked the question again with suppressed anger.

"Oh~ you have a bad hearing, Mr. Hibari. Fine, I'll tell you again," Daniela leaned on the stone fence. "I'm the one behind your failed assassination, when you were treated in Rome and Elia, my brother, was the one who caused the death of your pet. What was its name again? Oh yeah, Hibird."

Hibari didn't know how to react to it. The later fact added another guilty to his already guilty feeling for accusing a wrong person of Hibird's death. Daniela didn't stop here. She had nothing to lose anymore and she knew sooner or later the Cloud Guardian would finish her life. If her hunch as a woman not mistaken, she would laugh as hard as she could before proudly met Aroldo and Elia, because she achieved one of their goal.

"But you disappointed me as a man," she said with a sarcastic expression, "You chose to rescue your ex-girlfriend than your present girlfriend. It must be hard for her having a man like you."

Hibari was incredulous but he didn't show it, though the anger and bad feelings were mixed up inside. He let the woman continued her talk.

"I only have two targets since the beginning. If one is rescued by her friends, I still have the other as a back-up. My first target, of course, is Chrome, your ex-girlfriend as well as the person involved in Aroldo's death. That other girl with her? I just thought of her as a bonus and a fake second target. Now, I'm sure you know the real second target."

'Please don't say her name,' Hibari said it as loud as he could in his heart, as a fear crept up his heart.

Hearing no answer, Daniela spoke again, "I chose her because of three reasons. One, she is a threat to my life. If everything goes according my plan, she'd call her colleagues, to have them burn down this town and chase me until the end of my life as her revenge. I couldn't let her do that. Two, she is a threat to my love life. When I thought I finally found a good man besides Aroldo, I just knew that man still wanted her. That's ironic. Three, it's the simplest one, she is your girlfriend, who happened to protect you from your death in my assassination attempt and able to make my brother blind. Now, I'm sure you have a very clear answer about who is she I'm talking about since the beginning. However, as your friend said, she had been saved so nothing to worry about. Too bad, Elia couldn't finish his task to kill her. If only he brought her here sooner, maybe I could help him."

Daniela laughed out loud while Hibari paled. Suddenly, everything connected to each other inside his mind. The hunch, the bad feelings, the sudden reminiscences, Daniela's hints, the medicine (he knew he had seen it somewhere), and the car accident. Why did his logic ignore it although his heart already knew?

"_I'll __be fine by myself."_

Haru's last sentence kept repeating in his mind, mingled with the shocking facts, making him unconsciously activated his Cambio Forma. As the massive deep purple flame engulfed his Alaude's Handcuff and enveloped the freaked out woman in a cocoon of cuffs, he coldly watched the end of Daniela Teobald. The other two stared dumbfounded at the event. They knew she had said something quite terrible to cause him enraged like that. They did nothing until Hibari glared at them and they hurriedly brought Chrome and lay her down on a small made-up bed inside the chopper, his informant piloting the vehicle, the driver and Hibari sat beside Chrome.

"How was her condition when you saved her?" Hibari asked the driver when they took off.

He was confused at first but smiled when he understood, "Haru-san was shot in her leg, but she was fine. I actually didn't know much about it since Mukuro-san was the one whom saved her. Please ask him to get further detail."

Hibari nodded. He didn't feel like talking too much, either. He just wanted to arrive in Palermo faster right now. He closed his eyes for a light nap, as the chopper brought him away from Siracusa.

* * *

A/n: That's it, the last piece of Rescuing The Damsels set. It supposed to be divided into two parts, but I'm too lazy to do it. Hope I didn't make any fatal mistake here. I'm sorry if it's lame and each place's description is wrong (especially Castello Maniace). Thank you for those who had reviewed the last chapter and hope you like this one. Well, comment, criticism, and review are most welcome and appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	15. Chapter 15

Title: The Offer

Genre: Angst/Romance

Rating: M

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Kateikyoshi Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

[One hour after the rescue, at 6.30 in the morning]

"See you at lunch," Mukuro said to Tsuna before exiting his office room.

He had reported the result of his mission to the Vongola leader, right after he arrived at the base. The light sleep he had earlier on the way back from Siracusa didn't help him at all. Not that it affected his body, but possible to affect his mood if he didn't get a proper sleep soon. As he lay down on his bed, he rekindled the report session earlier.

----------Flash back-----------

Mukuro sat on a leather armchair in Tsuna's office, enjoying the comfort he didn't find in the chopper's seat before. He was tired actually, but at least, he could survive another hour of sitting now. In front of him, Tsuna sat on his own seat, his face showed tiredness. From the servant, Mukuro knew that after finishing the report last night, Tsuna only had less than five hours to sleep when his men announced Mukuro's arrival on the base. Five minutes later, which was now, both were having meeting on his office. After Tsuna came and sat down, plus he himself was unwilling to waste another time of sitting here, Mukuro started his report.

"I arrived in our hideout in Siracusa at 9.30. Hibari came fifteen minutes later. Our driver took us to the target building in Ortigia, but one of our informants told us that M.M wasn't there. We then decided that we must separate and one of us searched in another location. In the end, Hibari stayed and I went. Two hours later, with lead from our spy, I saved M.M in the outskirt of Siracusa. I didn't get any news from Hibari after that, but considering it was him, I knew he'd be fine. I thought my mission was over and I prepared to go back, but I was wrong. I found Haru locked in a secret room inside the building."

By this Tsuna's expression changed. "Haru? But, wasn't she…"

Mukuro nodded, "I'm surprised with her presence, too. I didn't know how she could be there and she also not remembered anything prior that. When we were about to leave the place, one of the enemy appeared. He introduced himself as Elia Teobald."

"Teobald…so it was really them."

"Yes. Just as we thought, it was a revenge action, planned by his wife and his brother. When my attention occupied by his men, he escaped and brought Haru with him. I chased them until Fonte Aretusa twenty minutes later. I managed to save Haru when Elia almost killed her. We left the place after I took care of him. Three hours later, both of us arrived here. Of course, I took Haru and M.M to Shamal-san first before I met you."

"They're hurt?"

"M.M is fine. And Haru," Mukuro laughed a bit, "Well, she was shot in her leg, fell from a five-meter height and landed on a cold water spring. Overall, I think she's okay. Shamal-san also said the same."

Tsuna was silent. How could those things make her fine? Any normal person wouldn't be alright after experiencing that. Not to mention she was a woman. He couldn't imagine Kyoko would be alright if she were experiencing the same things. Tsuna thought for a moment. "Mukuro-san, when you found Haru there, did you inform Hibari-san?"

When Mukuro was about to answer, the door opened and Hibari walked in, causing the two to stare at him. Mukuro put his attention back to Tsuna and smiled, ignoring the sour looks from Hibari to him, "I didn't and I'm not allowed to do that."

Although a bit confused, Tsuna didn't ask further. He kind of understood why Mukuro said that.

"Now, if you excuse me, I want to go to my room," Mukuro said and stood up after Tsuna nodded as his permission. He smirked when his eyes met Hibari's, as he passed by the Cloud Guardian whom sat on the other chair.

-------End of Flashback--------

"It's really interesting," he thought and closed his eyes.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"_I killed Leon Fermiere."_

Haru abruptly opened her eyes and stared at the white ceiling. Where was she? She tried to sit down and looked around. Oh, this was similar to the hospital room she used before. The bed, the cabinet, and the plant in the corner, there were no variation and nothing's new, but she felt safe. She was in a familiar place. Then, the sentence played again in her mind. Why did she could not forget it? Why did the words affect her so much?

"Ah, you're awake! Good morning, Haru," Shamal, who opened the door seconds after, greeted her. "How do you feel?"

"Good morning, Shamal-san. Well, besides my leg, I feel fine. You take care of me very well."

"Yeah, you should thank me for that. Imagine my surprise when you came in with injured leg at dawn. And then, Mukuro told me about you taking a bath in the cold water. You should be glad you didn't get hypothermia."

Haru laughed and nodded, "I know. Thank you, Shamal-san."

While the older man did his morning checkup, Haru let her mind wandered a bit. Although she was kind of happy with Leon's death, she couldn't accept the fact he was killed by Elia. She knew Leon was strong, almost on a par with the guardian, except without their weapon box. He was a delinquent in his school and college time after all. Somehow, having thought of him as a delinquent and met the past Hibari, who was the leader of a bunch of delinquents, made her giggled. It'd be a rare sight to see them fought each other. Well, it really happened in the end, surely minus their followers.

"You look happy," Shamal said and smiled when Haru stared at him. "Something funny happen?"

Haru shook her head, "Just remembering old things."

"Then, if you have enough rest and take the medicine routinely, your wound will be healed in four days."

"Can we make it into three days?" Haru asked hopefully.

"Nope. Four days is final. Besides, what makes you want to shorten the time?" Shamal asked and pulled a small chair to the bedside.

"Nothing, but I think it will be boring if I have to spend another week in hospital," she answered and Shamal smiled. "Besides, I have to go back as soon as possible to Japan."

With the last answer, the playful look has gone from his face. "I see. If you show a good progress in the next two days, I'll let you go in the third day." Haru was happy. Shamal could see it in her eyes that she was really happy it made him started to wonder about the cause of her happiness, "But remember. If your business has finished, you must go back here and take the medication."

"Hahi, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"What do you mean? You promise to take it, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. What I mean is that I won't have the medication here. I'll do it in Japan. My brother has arranged everything, and I can't waste what he has done for me."

Shamal was skeptical but also curious, "Are you sure, Haru? We have a great team to take care of you here."

"Don't worry, Shamal-san. My brother is the best person I've ever known regarding this thing. You will say the same if you met him."

"Whoa, he must be really great to make you say that," Shamal said.

"He sure is," Haru grinned and made a peace sign. "So, please don't worry about me. I'll be in the best hand."

"Okay, I believe you," he gave a big smile as his agreement, "Now, until that time, you're in my care and you must listen to what I say, okay?"

Haru nodded happily as Shamal ruffled her hair and they laughed together. Although the sad feeling still lingered somewhere, the words haunting her mind earlier has gone.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari just arrived at the hospital gate when he saw Mukuro sat on one bench in the small garden next to the building. To be honest, he wanted to ask him about the mission and about Haru, but his dislike to the other man prevented him to take an initiative to ask first. Mukuro, sensing the internal battle inside Hibari, stood and approached him. Both were staring to each other as the distance between them gotten lesser by steps.

"You have something to tell me?" Mukuro asked first. One of them has to be the initiator.

"You know what I want to say. Stop pretending you don't know," Hibari answered.

"If you forgot, I'm not a mind-reader, though I can control someone's mind easily. I'm not sure I know what you want to say, but judging from your behaviour, I think it has something to do with certain woman, a brunette to be exact."

"Why didn't you tell me about her?" the question spoken with a tone that made Mukuro smiled.

"It was her request."

Hibari glared at Mukuro. "Can you give me another good answer besides that one?"

"I'm not joking. I could call you if I wanted, but she didn't allow me. She said, it was useless to tell you, because you only have Chrome in your mind at that time, as your priority. Telling you about her condition meant ruining your priority. She knew that ruining your priority was an indiscipline act, and you never fancy one."

"Stupid," Hibari mumbled to himself. Why did she always think like that?

Although faint, Mukuro could hear it. He said the same thing to her when she first told him the reason, on their way back from Siracusa. "She is," he said. "She risked her own life when she decided not to go to Castello Maniace, because she knew you would go there. She wanted you to concentrate in helping Chrome, therefore, she dared to stop Elia with all her might although she knew it was useless. Of course, she isn't a guardian like you, me, or Chrome. She is just an ordinary woman. However, she puts aside her weakness and fear, and never considers her own safety when it comes to you."

Hibari looked at him again. "She said all those things to you?"

"Not really, but I'm sure that is what she thinks of."

"You seem to know her really well."

"Kufufufu, I don't know you could be jealous," Mukuro smirked and Hibari glared at him. "Let's just say, being friends with her for this long has made me understand her better than before."

'Huh? How long did they've been friend?' Hibari thought. Haru never told him anything about this. Both stood in silence, watching other people passed them by.

"Oh, by the way, have you visited her?" Hibari shook his head and Mukuro smiled, "You should have. She may not look at it, but she needs you right now."

"I don't need you to tell me that," Hibari said and started to walk into the building.

As he watched him walked closer, Mukuro's expression turned to a serious one. "If, since the first time, you've been told that Haru and Chrome were held hostage in two different places, their lives being threaten by seconds, and you must chose one of them to be saved. Who would you choose?"

Hibari halted his steps. "You know my answer."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru was reading a tale book given by Shamal when Hibari opened the door and entered the room. She was absorbed into the reading she didn't realize Hibari's presence. That lasted until Hibari took the book and put it on a small table beside the bed.

"Hahi! Hi-Hibari?!" she startled and blushed when she saw the face. Her mind went blank for a second before suddenly she remembered what happened yesterday and she noticed the expression on his face. She knew someone has told him about the whole event, maybe Mukuro, Tsuna, or Shamal. And now, he was angry because of that. Before he asked any question, she asked first, "How was your mission?"

"It went well," Hibari pulled the chair Shamal used before to the bedside and sat on it. "Until I found out someone couldn't keep her promise to me."

She pretended not hearing the last sentence. "Oh, that's good. I heard Chrome was hurt badly. Hope she is alright now. I was really worried when Tsuna-san called." Haru kept talking, ignoring the fact it annoyed the man. It went on until she said, "I'm glad you were there to save her."

That was it. He unconsciously grabbed her shoulder really hard it made her flinched in pain. "You're glad I saved her you said?"

The warm temperature Haru felt before was gone, replacing by an icy one. It was uncomfortable for her, but she was gotten used to it. It always like that whenever he was angry. "It hurts, Hibari," she said slowly and Hibari released her right away.

He sat back on his chair. Observing her for a moment, Shamal's information about her condition came into his mind again. "How's your leg? I heard you've been shot."

"It's fine. It'll be healed in three days."

Both were back to another silence. The man, he didn't feel like to talk anymore. The woman, she said nothing as he didn't say anything. They have been informed about what happened to each other already, and the need to ask was nowhere. However, Hibari still wanted to hear her answer.

"Why didn't you call me?"

He finally asked it. "I didn't call you because I didn't want to distract you from your objective. Besides, I know that for you, as you always say it, a friend is more important than a lover."

He didn't know that statement could make him feel weird. It was as if it hurt him. How could that be? He wasn't the one being hurt here. But, maybe he was the one. After a long silence, he stood up from his chair and walked to the door.

"Are you leave now?" she asked. To be honest, she wanted him to stay longer.

"I'll come again tonight," he answered and exited the room.

Haru stared at the closed door. She knew her words affected him, but she never thought it would affect her, too. Why she couldn't tell him what she truly felt?

* * *

A/n: So many OOC-ness here….and I totally forgot how one supposed to call the other character's name (using suffix, using title, or not using at all?). Not that it will change the way some of them calling to each other, but it'll be my reference in the future. Hope I can get any help in this. Thank you for those who had reviewed the last chapter and hope this one is up to your liking. Well, comment, criticism, and review are most welcome and appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Of Jealousy and Happiness

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru, OCxChrome

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Chrome was watching a little bird played with its friend on a tree branch, from her bed and through her window, when someone knocked the door.

"Come in," she said.

The door opened and revealed a tall long-haired blonde man with deep blue eyes, who smiled right away when he saw her. He approached the woman slowly as she smiled to him, with his right hand behind his back. She thought it was strange and he must be having something on it, but she didn't ask. He would tell her later.

"Hi," he said and kissed her forehead.

"Hi, too, Davide," she replied shyly.

"I have something for you," he said after a while, "Close your eyes and don't open it until I say so." She nodded and closed her eyes. Several seconds later, he finally said, "Okay, open your eyes now."

Chrome opened her eyes and the object inside his hand surprised her. It was a small pot of poinsettia flower wrapped inside an off-white paper. Her eyes caught his and she blushed immediately. He could still make her felt like this, even after knowing him for more than two years. Putting the flower on the window sill, he sat on the bedside and held her hand.

"I'm sorry I couldn't visit you faster. Dino wouldn't allow me to leave before I finished my work."

She rubbed his hand softly, "It's alright. You're here now."

Both were smiling to each other.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru was walking through the hallway to Chrome's room when he saw a man heading towards her. He was the man she had met several times during her works with Cavallone family, as well as the man currently having a special relationship with the female guardian of Vongola. She greeted him immediately when she was near enough to him.

"Good afternoon, Davide-san."

He stopped and observed her before his face became bright. "Haru-san! Good afternoon, too. Long time no see."

"Well, the last time we met was more than half a year ago, so yes, long time no see."

They laughed together and soon after, they involved in a conversation between old friends. It was mostly about their activities until recently, including his visit to Chrome today. Five minutes later, the talk was over because his job's calling.

"It's really nice to see you again, Haru-san. I hope we can talk like this again in the future," he said before they parted ways.

"I'll look forward to it," she replied.

After he left, Haru continued her walk to Chrome's room. She opened the door slowly and glad the room's occupant wasn't sleeping. Otherwise, it meant she has disturbed Chrome's rest time. Haru approached the woman on the bed, after she gave her sign to walk closer.

"How's your condition?" Haru asked.

"As you can see, I'm fine. They said your medicine helped me to survive until I arrived here. Now, I should ask the same to you. I thought you have to rest until tomorrow? And, I heard that you've been shot in your leg," Chrome said worriedly, "Does it still hurt?"

"Shamal-san said that I could take a walk once in a while. My leg was hurt at first, but it doesn't anymore now. We have many great doctors here, and they helped me a lot to heal. Besides, it's only a single bullet. It won't hurt me that much."

"Don't underestimate it, Haru."

"Don't worry. It won't take my life easily," she said. She grinned when she saw the pot on the window and took it into her hands. "I met Davide-san on my way to here. He said he had visited you. This one must be from him, right? Oh~ there's something written below. Want me to read it?"

Chrome frantically shook her head since she knew very well what written there, and having someone read it out loud would embarrass her. Haru laughed then put the object back to its place. Both then talked about what they did during their stay in the hospital for the past two day, including the visit from their family and excluding a name. Chrome was curious why Haru didn't mention his name during their talk. She thought maybe it was her fault, seeing that what happened to Haru caused by her past with the man. She was sure of it although she actually didn't know the true story behind the event. Hibari and Mukuro didn't talk much about it everytime she asked them. She decided not to ask again because maybe that was the best thing to do. But now, having the woman sat right before her, Chrome felt the urge to apologize.

"Haru, I'm really sorry."

"Hahi? For what? As far as I remember, you did nothing wrong, Chrome."

"Because of me, you were involved in the problem between me, Hibari, and the Teobald. And, instead of saving you, Hibari saved me."

Haru sighed. She knew Chrome would feel guilty because of that and she wanted it not to happen. To Haru, Chrome was important and she was in the same position with the other members of Vongola. Haru wanted them all to be happy and seeing Chrome like this because of something that wasn't her mistake, it made Haru sad. She lifted Chrome's face and looked at her in the eyes.

"The things happened to me in the incident with Teobald weren't your fault. It purely caused by my own act. As for Hibari, he didn't know I was there, and I chose not to let him know until it was over. Therefore, it was my own mistake and not yours," Haru said calmly. "Don't be sad again, okay?"

"Okay." Chrome was relieved, that until she remembered the thing she did with Hibari a month ago. She had to tell Haru about it. "Ano, there's something you must know between me-"

Haru put a finger on Chrome's lips and smiled, "What was over is over now. Don't bother yourself to talk about it again."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru sat on a chair behind the small dining table, hands held a big cup of hot chocolate. Aldier made it for her before continued his work in stove. She had promised to taste his new recipe although she had suggested him to ask the chef instead of her, but he refused. His reason? She didn't know. Looking through the kitchen window, she watched rain fell down and thunder flashed on the dark night sky. It was beautiful at the same time emitted an eerie feeling to the woman. She didn't hate it, in fact, she liked it. However, she now wished it would stop soon, so she could have a good sleep tonight. Recently, bad dreams always awaken her in the middle of the night and sometimes followed by a painful headache. During her stay in the hospital, she could get an antidepressant from the nurse whenever she felt the pain and she would have a peaceful sleep. However, she didn't get it anymore after she left the place two days ago. At times like this, she had to struggle against herself not to grab the medicines from her brother, even though those things could help her reducing her pain. No way if took it resulted in he scolded her. She was too lazy to hear his never-ending complaint. That was the reason of her presence in the kitchen at 10 PM, sought for a way to sleep again and stumbled on Aldier.

"Haru," Kyoko called as she entered the room. "Can't sleep?"

"Yes," Haru turned and smiled, "Waiting for Tsuna-san?"

Kyoko nodded and sat on an empty stool beside Haru, as Aldier greeting and making her tea. Tsuna, along with the rest of the guardians, went to an external meeting with other family's heads in Palermo's downtown. They have been gone since midday and haven't back until now.

"Kyoko, can I ask you something?" Haru asked carefully.

Kyoko felt odd with the question. Haru only asked permission if she wanted to talk about something really important and related to her friend's personal life. Curious with the thing her friend wanted to ask, she played along. "You know you can ask me anything, Haru."

"I guess you're right," she chuckled. "It's just that, I'm afraid my question will bother you."

"Try me," the other woman replied.

"How's your love life with Tsuna-san?"

Kyoko almost choked on her tea after the question ended. "Wha-what? Why do you ask that, Haru?"

Haru pouted. "I want to know whether you are happy or not with your chosen man. Besides, you said I can ask anything."

"I know, but…," Kyoko was blushing and seeing her red face, Haru almost laughed.

"So, yes or no?"

"Yes, I'm really happy, Haru," Kyoko smiled. "Then again, why do you ask?"

Haru sipped her chocolate. "Let's just say I'm curious. Since I moved to Tokyo, we seldom met and shared stories like we used to do. It became rarer when you followed Tsuna-san and the others to Sicily. Imagine my surprise when you called and told me about his proposal to you. Not to mention I was in the middle of an important test with the worst teacher I've ever had. At least, I'm glad if Tsuna-san takes care of you well and you are happy with him, although, my hope for a little angel running around the base is still far away."

Kyoko blushed for the second time and Haru couldn't help but giggled. "Don't say that, Haru…"

"Sorry, sorry. But, I know you two will be great parents and have wonderful children."

"Thank you, Haru," Kyoko held Haru's hand. "What about you and Hibari-san?" Haru stared at her. "I…heard what happened to you in Siracusa. I also heard that you wouldn't let Hibari-san knew about your condition during the whole mission. The first time I heard about it, I thought you were stupid. Why would you not let him know?" Kyoko stopped for a moment. "No, I won't force you to answer that because I know you have your own reason and you must be tired with this. However, this event somehow strengthened my thought that you have an unhappy relationship with him. The discovery of your relationship with him was a surprise to us. It was sudden, and you never talked about it before. In fact, you always avoid it until now. I thought, there must be something wrong with this. If you're happy, you won't keep it as a secret. Therefore, I thought you're unhappy. Please, tell me I was wrong. I don't know Hibari-san very well, but I do hope he treats you good. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm prying, but I just want your happiness."

Haru turned to her cup, her finger tracing the rim of it. "What answer do you want from me?"

"An honest one."

"What makes you think I'd give you a lie?" she laughed when Kyoko glared at her. "I'm happy. Maybe not the same as you, but I'm happy. Despite the problems I have with him, I enjoy being together with him. This is the most comfortable relationship I've ever had with someone."

"But…why do you look so sad whenever you see him with Chrome?" This time, Haru was the one who almost choke on her drink. "I saw it in your face, more than once."

Haru smiled sadly. "I'm jealous, Kyoko. So much that I can't bear I actually want to die if I see them together."

Kyoko didn't know whether she should be happy or sad because her guess was right. "Haru, I-"

"She talked to me when she said she had a feeling for Hibari. She told me about her first date with him. It was wonderful, she said at that time. She told me about her good time and bad time with him. Well, not much since I always cut her whenever she started to talk about it. Those were their personal things, after all. What I want to say is, I'm jealous with their happiness. They were a lovely couple, just like you and Tsuna-san. I admit that their past still affecting me until now. And sometimes, the sight of them being together side by side reminds me of the past time and it hurts me. But, I'm fine with that because if I let it get the best of me, I will end up unhappy nonetheless. However…I think there are times when I do let it get the best of me," Haru trailed off and grinned, "It's good to let loose once in a while, right?"

"I agree," Kyoko nodded and grinned together.

"Hehe, I'm saying embarrassing things…Hahi, I better help Aldier," Haru stood from her chair and walked to the man whom still working on the stove.

Kyoko saw it as a sign to finish the conversation, although she still wanted to be sure of something. "Then…are you happy?"

Haru smiled softly, "I am happy."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Aniki, I'm sorry I wake you early," Haru said after a yawn heard through the phone.

"It's fine. I should thank you because I have to go somewhere this morning. At least your call wakes me more efficiently than my alarm."

"Oh, you mean my call is your new preferred alarm?"

"You can say so," The other man just laughed. "What time will you arrive today?"

"I haven't said anything about arriving somewhere."

"I develop a mind-reading ability lately."

Haru rolled her eyes, "Yeah right."

"Not changing the fact I'm right." Haru nodded and smiled. "What time?"

Haru turned to a sleeping Hibari. He, as well as the others, came back half an hour ago, not long after the late dinner with Kyoko and Aldier was over. He was tired and sleepy, and he went to sleep immediately after his body touched the bed. Of course, that happened after he changed his clothes and cleaned up first. Well, he almost slept on the bathtub if Haru didn't see and wake him up. He didn't bother to dry his wet hair and Haru had to do it or else he would catch a cold. He tended to do that a lot.

"If everything goes well, it'll be 7 PM."

"Okay, I'll meet you there."

Haru put the phone back to its place after the call ended. She walked to the bed, lay on her side, and faced the sleeping man. She slowly slipped her arms to his side and suddenly, he pulled her to his arms without opening his eyes. He didn't move again after that. Haru slept soon, as his calm breath, warm body, and steady heartbeat lulled her away. It worked best than any other sleeping medicine, and she was happy.

* * *

A/n: I hope this one wasn't bad, and sorry for any mistake I've done. Not much to say from me, so thank you for reading!


	17. Chapter 17

Title: Leave and Arrive

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Tsuna sighed at the woman in front of him. Haru stood before his desk, waiting for his permission to leave. If he agreed, she would fly back to Japan on a flight which ticket was already in her hand. He glanced at her for a moment. "Are you sure you want to go now? You can take another day to rest before leave."

"If you talk about my health, I'm in a perfect condition, Tsuna-san."

"Are you sure you don't want to wait for the others?" Tsuna asked again, unsure with her statement.

She laughed softly. "My trip will be delayed if I have to wait. Besides, I have an important meeting I must attend with my staffs tonight. "

"Actually, I don't want to let you go, considering Hibari's wrath if he knows you leave without him. However, since you're so eager, I'll permit you," he said and handed the letter in his hand to her. "Haru, it will be a difficult mission and I can't guarantee your safety, but I hope nothing bad will happen. I'm really sorry for making you do this. If only I could have someone else to do it instead of you."

"The others already have their hands full with their own tasks and I'm free at the time. Besides, this isn't the first time I do this kind of mission. That's why, you don't have to be sorry. Everything will turn out well." Haru took the paper and bowed to him, the man she respected after her deceased parents, her brother, and him. "Thank you for giving me the permission. I'll take my leave now."

"Haru, if you have any problem, don't hesitate to call us and…take care of yourself," Tsuna spoke for the last time.

She smiled again, reassuring him. He sometimes worried over his subordinates too much. "See you again, Tsuna-san," she winked before closing the door.

"I do really hope everything will turn out well," Tsuna said to himself.

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Haru walked back to her bedroom, taking the things she would bring together, which wasn't much. Most of her stuffs were in Tokyo after all. Glancing at her bedroom for the last time, she walked out with a suitcase on her hand to the main door, where Alan had waited for her. She didn't have to say goodbye since almost everyone wasn't in the base right now. Kyoko and I-Pin attended the gathering held by Madam Adrienne. Some of the guardians, including Hibari, were away on missions. The rest were on the other side of the building, doing what they usually did everyday, like Gianini whom busied himself with his new inventions. Truthfully, she wanted to meet them all before she left, but she couldn't do that since it would mess up her agenda and someone definitely would be mad if it were happened.

"Well, better hurry now," she said to herself while walking through the long hallway. However, when she stepped into the main hall, there was someone there. It surprised her, knowing he should be away on a mission right now. He turned to her, showing his forest green eyes, usual scowl, and a cigarette on his lips. She approached him and took out the cigarette. "Stop smoking, would you? You're killing yourself slowly if you keep doing that."

"Old habit dies hard, stupid woman," he took back the thing from her hand and eyed the suitcase on her left. "Can we…talk for a minute?"

Haru glanced at her watch. The plane would take off in two hours. She wouldn't be late if she left in another minutes, right? Well, Alan had to drive faster later. She nodded and followed him to a small bench not far from the car. They just sat there, enjoying the small breeze of afternoon wind and the colorful view from the flowers on the garden. The man lit up the cigarette, making her turned and observed him for a while. Nothing much changed from the Storm Guardian. He sure has become a handsome man now, although he still had his bad talking and short-tempered personality. He still wore many rings on each of his fingers. His hairstyle was still the same although it was shorter now. They even still had their usual quarrels every time one irked another. Nevertheless, despite their differences and dislikes, their relationship was better now than their younger years.

"I thought you're in mission."

"Yeah, it just finished an hour ago," he said then blew the smoke from his mouth. "So, are you going now?"

"Yes. But not now, I still have two hours before my departure time."

"What about him? You just left him like that?"

"Huh?" Haru slightly confused with his statement. "Who's him? And what do you mean with 'like that'?"

"You know who and what I mean. Both of you came here together, it'll be strange if you go alone."

"Oh, you mean Hibari. Why do you ask? You afraid he'll bite you if he stays here?" Haru smirked at his shocked face. The smirked turn to giggle when the image of Hibari bit everyone played in her mind. She almost laughed when she remembered one funny memory at summer festival in their school year.

"Hey! Cut that out, woman! It's annoying," he shouted, irritated of her giggles.

"Sorry, sorry. I just remembered a funny thing. But, I don't understand. What's so strange with me going alone?"

Gokudera gave her despondent look. "Geez, do I have to tell you everything?"

Haru reached for a small red flower on a bush beside her. "No, but I don't get it. I think it's not a big thing if I go alone. He still has works to do here and I have none."

"Dammit, Haru! How can you say it's not a big thing?! You knew what he did with her when you weren't here?!" Gokudera shouted.

Oh, he might be talked about that event. "I knew."

"Wha-?! You knew?" Gokudera shocked at her answer. "Fuck! You knew and you didn't do anything?!"

"I'm fine with that," she said calmly.

"What?! Oh great, here I am, talking to an idiot woman whom didn't care a bit with her lover's secret affair. Why did I have to worry at first?" Gokudera sighed in defeat.

"You… worried about me?"

"Huh? Eh, n-no! Who said I worried about you?" he waved his hands frantically trying to hide his awkwardness.

"I don't know you care for me like that, Gokudera-kun. I'm truly honored," she smiled softly to the man. "I have to go now. I can't let Alan-san wait any longer."

Haru stood from the bench and walked towards the car, with Gokudera followed behind. "Wait!" he stopped her from opening the car trunk. "Are you sure you're…okay?"

Haru walked to him and pecked his cheek before smiling brightly. "See you again, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera was so shocked he didn't move an inch although the car has left minutes ago. He rubbed his cheek, still could feel the softness of her lips upon his skin. He didn't know what was in her mind when she did that. He didn't even know how she could accept the fact calmly. Unbeknownst to him, her heart was crying.

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"BRAKK!"

The sound of desk banged echoing on the silent room. Tsuna has told Hibari about Haru's departure this noon and he didn't like it a bit. Gokudera almost attacked Hibari if Yamamoto didn't hold him.

"You let her go?" Hibari asked calmly, although anger clearly showed on his tone and eyes. He knew Haru would go back to Japan this week, but it supposed to be the day after tomorrow. She didn't tell him she changed the date to today. The thing annoyed him the most was she didn't even bother to call him and said she was leaving.

"It's not my place to forbid her."

"That's a lame excuse."

"Calm yourself, Hibari. You've got nothing from accusing Tsuna," Reborn spoke and it successfully kept the Cloud quiet. Hibari glared at Tsuna and Reborn for the last time before left the room. Tsuna sighed again for the umpteenth time today. Somehow, he knew this would happen when he granted her the request.

"But, Tenth, why are you hiding it?" Gokudera asked.

"I'm not hiding anything. It was her decision to leave early, and I respect that."

"But, why did she not tell us about it beforehand?" Lambo mumbled the question, loud enough to be heard by them all.

"I'm sure she had her own reason, Lambo," Tsuna said.

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Haru sat on a couch in the lounge of Narita Airport, waiting for her brother to come. He called her earlier and said that he'd be late because he was trapped in a long queue at the cashier of the supermarket near his workplace. She said she could take a taxi but he told her to wait. She did so until now. She glanced at her watch, 7.30 PM. Aniki surely took his time.

"Hello, Hime," a manly voice greeted her.

Haru turned to the voice owner, a familiar young man with grey hair and violet eyes. A man who she had waiting for the past 30 minutes. "I told you before not to call me that, Aniki."

He smiled happily as he approached her. "It's my way to express my love to you."

"I know, I know," she smiled as well and hugged him.

"Whoa~ It's unusual for you to do this. Something's wrong?" he pushed and looked at her strangely.

"No, I'm just missing you," she grinned. "We haven't met for a long time."

"I miss you more, lil' sis," he ruffled her hair before taking her suitcase and her hand, "Shall we go now?"

"Okay," Haru said and they left the place.

The ride mostly spent in silence, as Haru was still tired and she didn't want to disturb her brother's concentration. They only talked if one asked a question to other. Only a song from the radio could be heard.

"Haru, why didn't he come along with you?" he asked her, his sight never left the road.

"You mean Hibari?" he nodded. "He has work to do before he comes back here."

The silence was back.

"Aniki," he made a sound as a sign he listened to her. "I knew the person whom killed Leon."

He braked the car suddenly and, if only they didn't wear a seat belt, their head definitely knocked the dashboard. Haru almost shouted at him if only she didn't notice his expression. It was a mix of confusion, anger, and sadness. He said nothing, only rode the car again. She only sighed, knowing very well about his act. He didn't want to talk about it. An hour later, they stopped in front of small café, and Haru stepped out of car. A small plank written 'CLOSE' hung on the glass door, but it didn't stop her to enter the place.

"Welcome back!"

Shouts of happiness startled her. Before her, a woman and three men stood with a wide smile on their faces. A big white cloth written 'WELCOME BACK, BOSS!' hung on the wall, the round table in front of them was filled with foods and drinks, balloons and white lilies adorned the room, and a slow jazzy song played in the back. Haru was speechless.

"Haru-san! I thought you wouldn't come today," the only woman among the four started to cry, as well as the blue-haired man among the rest. The white-haired one stopped them immediately as the last man glared at them. The black-haired man turned to her after that.

"Welcome home, Haru," he greeted her. Haru thanked him and turned to her brother whom standing behind her the whole time. She reached out her hand to him and he accepted it, as she led him to join the late welcoming dinner with the others.

* * *

A/n: This one is the opening of the third part of my story. It's still a long way to go before I reach the talk in the summary, though. And, after long thinking plus following La Plaridel and LuiseMeyrink's suggestions, I changed the rating. Hopefully you, my dear reader, won't mind my decision. Well, review, comment, and criticism are appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	18. Chapter 18

Title: Phone Call

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

"KRING!!"

The clock's alarm echoed in the silent room, almost awaken the still-sleeping woman on the bed next to it. She did nothing, only covering her ears with her pillow. It rung again and again and after it rung again for the fifth time, she slammed her hand on the clock, practically turned it off as well as broke it. Feeling pleased with the returned silence, she turned around and continued her slept. However, the other person inside the room, who watched the whole thing since the fourth ring, didn't please at all. He opened the curtain covering the window, letting the sunlight brightened the room. It didn't bother her since the pillow blocked the light to her eyes. He approached the woman, taking her blanket and pillow, exposing her body which was only covered by a pink short pant and a black t-shirt, his t-shirt if he might add. She didn't wake up, only shivered for a moment, turned around again, and continued sleeping, despite the cold air grazing her pale skin.

"Wake up, Haru, it's morning already." He glanced at his broken clock. Great, he had to buy a new one again. Why did she have to do that every time she slept here?

Half opening her eyelids, she smiled at the black-haired man. "Hahi…morning, Yuhgo."

"Yeah, yeah, morning, too. Now wake up or do you intend to sleep all day?"

"Can you give me five more minutes? I'm still tired," she mumbled sleepily.

"No," he replied and pulled her out of the bed, but she resisted. "I'll make you breakfast if you wake up now."

"Promise?" she opened her eyes fully and he nodded.

After Haru went to the bathroom, he tidied the mess she left behind before went to kitchen. Dumping the clock to the waste bin, he made breakfast for the two of them. Not long after, Haru came and went to the dining table.

"Ah~ Yuhgo's special potato and scrambled egg with toast. How I miss it," she said when she saw the food.

"Eat now before it's cold," he said and they started to eat.

As Haru happily ate the served food, Yuhgo eyed her through the dining. She was thinner than the last time he saw her, and her skin was paler. Did she not eat when she stayed in China and Sicily? Or something might be burdening her mind? Not to mention new scars he found on her body. That man had said that he wouldn't let her got hurt, but the fact was different.

"Yuhgo, something's wrong?" Haru asked and got him out of his reverie. "You just stare at your food."

"Nothing," he smiled. She didn't ask again and they continued eating.

Half an hour later, at 8.30, they left the apartment and went to Enki Hospital in the outskirt of Tokyo. She had an appointment with Fujiwara to do the medical checkup today. It took an hour to arrive there. The usual view of a hospital greeted them when they entered the seven-floor building, though the visitors were a bit unusual for ordinary people. Most of them were shady looking men and there were even infamous yakuza members among them. It wasn't a surprise for them both, although Yuhgo took extra caution so as they wouldn't bother Haru. Not like they could do that, if they recognized her. After Yuhgo left, Haru visited her brother in his office. He was reading a comic when she opened the door. After 15-minute of scolding, she finally stopped when a nurse came in and told them that they were ready. When she lay down on the MRI scanner, she felt uneasy. It wasn't her first time, but she was nervous. The result of this checkup determined the execution of her mission, and she couldn't afford if the result was below the minimal requirement. She just hoped the events she experienced in Sicily didn't affect it much.

"Aniki, this is my last check-up before I go to Sapporo, so please do it correctly and thoroughly," she said before the examination began.

"Don't worry," he said and ruffled her hair, "You're in expert hand, so just relax, okay?"

She smiled and closed her eyes. The checkup process went smoothly and ended faster than she thought it supposed to be. Sitting on a couch inside Fujiwara's office, Haru read the comic her brother left on his table, while said man was doing the health report of another patient.

"Haru, what if the result isn't good?" he suddenly asked though his eyes never left the paper on his hand.

"Won't stop me in doing the mission," she answered calmly. "But, I have to be more careful. That's what you want to say, right?"

"You should be," he said and took another report.

Two hours later, her complete result was out. She waited anxiously as Fujiwara read it. When he gave her a thumb up, she was relieved. It meant she could do the mission without worry. However, she disliked his frown afterward. He talked about the healed wound on her head and the strange substantial found on her blood. She told him the caused, not the whole event, and he pretty much satisfied with that since he didn't ask any further.

"Thank you, Aniki," she said before she left the room. He looked at her confusedly. "The medicine you gave to Rokudou-san, thank you for that."

He stared at her before smiled. She left his office and found Yuhgo at the waiting lounge.

"How's the result?" he asked when they exited the main door.

"Better than I expected," she said. "I think I can leave early. Now, what shall we do next?"

He took a small book from his pocket and read through it. "You have four appointments left today."

"Ugh, no slack off?" she asked with the cutest expression she could make.

"No slack off," he smirked at her despondent look. "Let's go now or you'll be late for the first one."

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Hibari lazily counted the tick of the clock during the meeting with Tsuna and the rest of the guardian this noon. The short clockwise still stuck at eleven, while the longer one stuck at three. He didn't feel like to follow the occasion, but the matter being discussed was important. It was about a black market trader and the fast growth of a yakuza group reported by Japan base. Although the trader and the yakuza group were at cold war to each other, they could affect Vongola in many ways. For an example, a company owned by family that also an ally of Vongola in Japan was closed due to the clash's influence. Who know what would happen if they were cooperate to go against Vongola? Hibari found it interesting. The thing excited him the most was the chance of meeting new enemies to be beaten, after he got back to Japan. He would spend most of his time there after all.

"However, the biggest threat comes from Mikami." Bianchi stated mentioning the name of the trader. "Several influenced parties in the northern Japan support him and he reportedly gains support from outside Japan, too, although it's still a rumor. However, the number seemingly will increase in the next year if we do nothing."

"What do you think we should do, Boss? Should we stop him?" Gokudera asked.

"I think we better watch at the moment. Maybe we can uncover more names behind him," Yamamoto suggested his idea.

The talk went on and on to the point it became pointless, but Hibari didn't pay attention anymore as another matter occupied his mind at this time. It has been one day since she left. Why did she not call him? As if answering his question, a text message received on his phone. It was from Haru. She only typed a short and simple sentence, no, question.

-Are you busy?- she asked.

He typed the answer right away, -No.-

The reply came not long after that, -Can I call you, then?-

He smirked at this, -No.-

-Oh, okay…am I bothering you?-

-No.-

-Humph!-

-What's that supposed to mean?-

-Finally not a No! What are you doing anyway?-

-Meeting.-

It took five minutes before she replied, –Tell me when it's over, 'kay?-

-Yes.-

-I'll be waiting! -

With that the message conversation ended. Although the meeting still went for two hours, Hibari didn't feel bored anymore and he followed the meeting until the end.

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In the other place, Haru couldn't hide her joy. She knew Hibari was angry because she left without telling him anything, but the fact that Hibari replied to her messages meaning he didn't angry anymore. She kept smiling through the ride from her last appointment's place to Velvet, making the man who accompanied her sighed.

"Haru, someone will think that you're crazy if you keep smiling like that," Yuhgo said when they arrived at Velvet park lot.

"I don't see anyone besides you here," she said and looked around, and smiled again.

He only rolled his eyes. They entered the café from the back entrance, knowing many customers filled the front area at this hour, since it was dinner time. No one was seen in the staff room. Yuhgo put his bag inside his cabinet and changed his shirt to his uniform. He stopped when he was about to put on the white apron on his waist, when he realized Haru's red face.

"Are you sick?" he touched her forehead. Not hot.

Haru put his hand away, "Could you not change your clothes in front of me?"

He stared at her before laughed. He leaned down to her level, his arms on her shoulders. "It's not the first time you saw my body. No need to be ashamed, you know?"

"But, still," Haru mumbled.

"Silly girl," he pinched her nose. "Come on, we've got work to do."

Following the man outside, they immediately drown in the hectic atmosphere of the café, blending with the other workers and the customers. When the clock jingled nine times, Yuhgo closed the place and joint Haru whom eating with their chef. The others were doing their unfinished tasks like cleaning the dishes, weeping the floor, or just counting their income for today.

"Your cake is always the best one I've ever eaten, Oda-san!" Haru praised the white-longhaired man.

"Haru, it's only trial cake."

"But it's a caramel macchiato cake! I've never have the chance to eat this cake during my stay abroad. How I miss it."

"She said the same thing about my cooking this morning," Yuhgo whispered to Oda and the older man was laughing.

"By the way, Yuhgo, I've just realized there are two new faces here," Haru said while eyeing the black-longhaired woman whom helping Misao arranging the dishes in the cupboard and the brown-haired man whom counting the money. "But, why do I feel familiar with them?"

"We're short in hand when you were away, and I decided to accept new employees. Besides, it was you who recommended them to me," Yuhgo replied and called said people. They left their tasks and approached the trio.

"Ano, Haru-san…thank you for employing us!" the man bowed suddenly, followed by the woman, causing Haru to stare at them.

"Hahi…you don't have to bow like that," Haru said shyly after Yuhgo nudged her. "Are both of you happy here?"

"Yes, I'm really happy, Haru-sama!" the blue-haired boy exclaimed from the couple's behind.

"I'm not asking you, Sei," she glared at him.

They laughed and not long after, the others joint the group. Oda had to take out the rest of the cake he intended to keep for tomorrow. When putting her plate into the washbasin in the kitchen, Haru's phone was ringing. It was Hibari.

"I thought you won't call," she said to him while walking to the pantry, and pouted although he couldn't see her.

"I call you, right?" he smirked while opening the door to his bedroom, knowing what kind of expression she wore in her face now. "Where are you?"

"I'm in Velvet. How's the meeting?" she asked and sat on a stool.

"Ordinary as usual," he answered and took his suitcase from the wardrobe.

"Have you eaten?"

"I've just finished my lunch. What about you?"

Haru grinned and played with the strap on her phone, "I've had the most delicious macchiato cake I've ever tasted. And you know what? It's only a trial cake! Oda-san is a-ma-zing."

Hibari let her talked while he lay on the bed. She talked about the lunch, the dinner, and even the new employees in Velvet. He remained silent, just enjoyed her voice.

"Hibari, you're not sleeping, aren't you?" Haru asked after she didn't hear anything from him.

"No. Why?"

"Then at least say something! I don't know if you're listening to me or not…"

"I'm listening to your voice," he said and closing his eyes. Haru was speechless and her face heated with sudden embarrassment. How could he say that so calmly!? Thank goodness no one was around, or they would laugh at her. "Haru, I'll leave this afternoon."

She paused for a moment then smiled. "I'll be waiting here."

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"Yuhgo-san, how's your preparation going?" Misao asked Yuhgo when they helped Haru listing the documents related to her mission in her apartment.

"It's almost done," he answered, while sorting the paper from the least important to the most important. "You?"

"Same here," she said and continued typing on her notebook. "I hope I'm not forgetting something, or she'll get in trouble because of us."

"That's our job to prepare everything, right?" he said and she nodded.

Half an hour later, he went to the kitchen to make coffee, as drowsiness came to him. When he passed Haru's bedroom, he found her sleeping on the couch. He approached the woman, took the books sprawled around her, and put it in the bookshelf beside her wardrobe.

"Silly girl," he said before took her in his arms and brought her to her bed. After covering her body with her mulberry-colored blanket, he watched her sleeping figure while playing with her hair. "No need to push yourself, you know?"

* * *

A/n: Ah~ I love Yuhgo. Mmm, it's just my feeling or did this chapter seem a bit too sweet than usual? And, happy late birthday to Hibari and Haru! I know it's really late...Well, review, comment, and criticism are appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	19. Chapter 19

Title: Preparation

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Yuhgo barely awoke when someone pulled his blanket from him. He tried to grab the object but a hand prevented him to do so and suddenly a mass of weight landed on his chest. Half opening his eyes, he saw a smiling Haru.

"Morning, Yuhgo."

He nodded and rubbed his eyes, "You need something?"

"I want hanami," she smiled sweetly and with that said, he fully awoke.

Two hours after that, Yuhgo found himself sitting together with Haru and the others, under the shade of blossoming sakura tree at the park near the Velvet building. Oda and Jun had made various delicious foods in that amount of time, more than enough to feed a bunch of hungry people, whom some of them hadn't taken their breakfast.

"Can someone tell me why we are doing this now?" the man with prussian-colored hair asked while yawning. "I've just slept for three hours, you know?"

"Ckckck, no wonder you have that ugly face today, Riku-nii. You should sleep more if you want to have a beautiful face like mine," the pink-haired girl commented and shook her head. "Am I right, Sei-kun?"

"I'm not asking for your comment, Mana, and I don't want to have a beautiful face!" Riku glared at the girl whom hiding immediately behind Seiran's back.

The little conversation turned into a bigger one as the others joint the trio. Laugh and words were crossed as they ate the served food in front of them. Haru listened to them as her eyes gazed at the pinkish white flowers surrounding the place. She thought it was a bad idea to have a hanami at this hour, since she knew some of her workers weren't morning person and Riku was an example. However, although their first reactions were varied, from grumping, exciting, to silence, they agreed to come earlier than usual to Velvet. Now, surrounded with the people she cared of and watched the beautiful view in the warm sunlight, Haru relished her idea. If only he were here.

"Fujiwara-san!" Misao greeted the newly arrived person. After exchanging greeting with the others, Fujiwara sat next to Haru.

"You said you wouldn't come today," Haru said to him.

"I changed my mind just recently. Besides, I'm hungry," he replied and she laughed.

They continued talking to one another until Hajime, her newest male worker, asked her, "Haru-san, you haven't told us why you do this event."

"Hahi, it's to celebrate Velvet's fourth anniversary!" Haru exclaimed happily.

"But, isn't it supposed to be next month? It's still March, right?" Riku asked confusedly.

"I know, but I don't think I can present at that time," she answered that somehow causing a gloomy atmosphere, "Hey, I know it's too early but you can do it again next month."

"That's not the problem, Haru," Oda said.

Haru was about to reply Oda's comment when Mana and Misao approached her and hugged her tightly. Soon, Seiran, Jun and Mai joint the group hugs and Haru almost ran out of breath if Riku and Hajime didn't help her to get away. Hesitantly, they let go of her but it didn't stop them from giving cheer and supporting words to the brunette, leaving Haru stared and nodded to whatever they said. Fujiwara laughed and Yuhgo just smiled.

"They really love her, ne?" Fujiwara said to Yuhgo. "Sometimes I wonder what kind of spell she used to make them act like that."

"It's not a surprise, considering what she'd done for them, including to me. I'm sure we'll avidly follow her until the end of time."

"That's exaggerating," Yuhgo laughed as the other man smiled. "Yuhgo, you're going with her to Sapporo, right? Please watch her. I don't know what will happen if the worst come and none of us are around."

"I'll do that without you even need to tell me, Fujiwara-san. The others have also decided to take turn in visiting her there. However, she'll be alone by the time she enters their territories. I hope nothing bad will happen and she can protect herself."

"I hope so, too," Fujiwara replied while looking at the feverish Haru.

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In another part of Tokyo, Hibari was having another meeting in Foundation's base. Yawning and almost sleeping on his chair, he listened to his men's report on their latest study in box weapon. He, being the leader of the team and all, had to attend it although he preferred to stay in his apartment since the moment he left Narita airport this dawn. Kusakabe had informed him about this before they left Sicily and Hibari just couldn't say no. At least, the meeting was almost over now. However, since his mind didn't occupied by the boring report anymore, it chose the time to remind him of his talk with Tsuna.

----------Flash back-----------

"I know you're aware of her condition, Hibari-san, and I believe she already told you about her next mission in Japan," Tsuna said to the man sitting in front of him. "And, since you're going to stay for a long time in Japan, I hope you can lend her a hand if she ever needs your help."

"She won't need it," Hibari said nonchalantly.

"But, are you aware of the difficulties she will face there?" Tsuna asked doubtfully when the man only looking at him. "You're not worried?"

Hibari was silent for a moment, "I'm not worried at all."

-------End of Flashback--------

To be honest, he didn't. He knew very well what kind of mission Haru would do, and who her target was. Although it was just a surveillance mission, the person being watched was one of the two, whose name mentioned in Bianchi's report. He was the black market trader, whose business could affect Vongola directly or indirectly. Knowing what kind of person she would face and her unstable condition, he wished she didn't accept the mission beforehand. But,

"_I can do it, Hibari."_

She said that the first time she told him about it. Looking at her determined expression, no one could oppose her, including him. If he were to stop her now, she most likely would fight him back and continued what she'd been doing. Not to forget her so-called followers who would support her from behind. In the end, he could do nothing except watching her from a far.

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Another busy evening filled the place as customers came to have their dinner. In the kitchen, Oda was doing the cuisines, while Jun helped him arranging the dishes. In the bar, Riku was showing off with his bottle-juggling play. Misao was taking the order and scolding Riku once in a while, if he played too much. Mai was serving the food. Mana was in the staff room, making the shop's costumes for next week regional competition. Seiran didn't present, since he had two photo sessions tonight. Yuhgo was receiving reservation call, as well as handled the payment from those whom had finished their eating. Haru herself was sitting in the VIP house next to Velvet's building, and having an important talk with a well-known politician in his late twenty, whom wanted to buy any secret information about his rival in the next election for the leader of his party. The negotiation process went longer than she expected, with the person being stubborn about the price and Haru being stubborn about the capacity to the information. Nevertheless, the result quite satisfied him, and especially her.

"I'll look forward for our next meeting," the man said and kissed her hand.

Haru gave her best dealer smile and nodded, "You're welcome."

After accompanying the guest to the front gate, Haru went back to main building. Taking a seat on an empty stool in the bar, Haru glanced at her watch. 8.35 PM. The place almost empty, only five people still stayed and had a nice after-eat talk. Velvet's staffs still doing their works, although they weren't as busy as they were an hour ago. Like Jun, who talked with that lady in red dress, or Oda, who enjoyed his evening tea, or Misao, who had turned off the music player and started to play the piano in the corner stage now. Then, she saw Yuhgo approached her with two cups of coffee latte.

Haru received one and took a sip. "Hmm…this one tastes different. Did Jun-kun put something into it?"

"Like he would tell us," Yuhgo smiled wryly. "Tired?"

"Not really bu-," Haru stopped talking as her eyes fixed on a figure entering the place. "Hibari…"

Yuhgo turned to said person right after Haru mentioned the name, at the same time Hibari found Haru among the people and saw her sitting side-by-side with the man. Velvet vice-director's eyes met Vongola Cloud Guardian's eyes and they were staring at each other, completely twitched. Hibari approached her without letting his sight off Yuhgo, and Yuhgo calmly leaned on the bar edge. Haru, although still oblivious to the unhappy expressions from them, tried hard to find a word to prevent those two from brawling each other. Riku, stood behind Haru, could swear that he saw an invisible battle happened between the men.

"Good evening, Hibari-san," Yuhgo greeted him first.

"Good evening," Hibari replied wryly. "I see you're still working here."

"Well, I enjoy working with her," Yuhgo smirked as polite as he could. "Besides, she treats me well."

"Oh, she treats you well?" Hibari smiled, as Haru saw, evilly.

A simple conversation and a silence coming afterwards added new panic to Haru. Riku grinned fully and he now concentrated in watching the scene before him. Oda, feeling pity for his boss, decided to talk. "Haru, there's only five customer left here. You can go home now if you want. Besides, you don't want Hibari-san to wait for you, right?"

Hibari and Yuhgo turned to Oda with a slightly annoyed look, while Haru was beyond happy someone could hear her plea for help, "Really? Thank you, Oda-san!"

When Haru went to take her bag, Oda turned to Hibari, "I'm sorry, Hibari-san. Haru didn't tell us that you will come today, therefore I apologize for making you wait for her."

"It doesn't matter," Hibari replied.

Not long after, Haru came back and surprised with the friendly atmosphere. She repeatedly thanking the old man and glared at grinning Yuhgo. When she finally left with Hibari, Oda turned to the black-haired man. "Yuhgo, why do you behave like this towards Hibari-san?"

"What do you mean, Oda-san? I behave like usual."

"Is that so? I know you behave like usual to our male customer, but not to a man she's having a special relationship to. It applies to Leon-san, Hibari-san, and even Fujiwara-san."

"You did that to me, too," Riku said while wiping and putting the cocktail glass on the rack.

"I'd never do something like that to you or Fujiwara-san," Yuhgo said to Riku and drank his coffee.

"Yeah, right," Riku rolled his eyes and continued his work.

"Riku is right. You did, Yuhgo, before you knew Riku would work here and Fujiwara-san is her brother. And you actually do that to us, too," Oda crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring Yuhgo's confusion. "Whenever she stays in Japan, you'll monopolize her for yourself. Don't you know that the others, including me, also want to spend some time with her?"

"And who exactly these others are?"

"Her workers, of course."

"I'm her worker."

"But you're not the only one," Riku said seriously and Yuhgo just smiled.

Taking Haru's half-drink coffee along with his, Yuhgo walked to the kitchen. "I'm going home first. I want to double-check my preparation."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

In their apartment, Hibari was having his dinner while Haru only watched him ate her cook. It was a simple beef stroganoff, but it tasted quite delicious in his tongue. Haru didn't cook much during their stay abroad, and he kind of missed it. When he praised her, she wondered why he could say that thing without having any expression on his face.

"Hibari, you haven't prepared your clothes for tomorrow, right?" Haru asked him when he was working with his notebook in their bedroom. Hibari nodded without looking away from the monitor. After choosing several clothes of him from their wardrobe, she took them out and started to arrange it inside his suitcase. Quietly singing her favorite song, she didn't realize Hibari observing her.

"Haru," Hibari said and she turned to him, "Why didn't you tell me you would leave first?"

"Hahi?" Haru looked confused until she got what he meant, "Oh, I have an important meeting with one of my client. I wanted to tell you about that, but you're too busy at that time."

"Is it just that?"

"What do you mean, Hibari?" she asked but he ignored her.

Getting no answer from him, she continued her task but her mind kept replaying his question. She didn't like his tone even just a bit. What was he implying? It felt like he accused her for something and she definitely didn't know what made him thought like that. The more she thought about it, the more she felt annoyed. Putting his suitcase next to their couch, she changed her clothes to her pajamas and went to sleep, without even saying goodnight. However, she didn't see the slightly sad expression on his face. Somehow, their conversation tonight reminded him of their conversation at the Vongola's formal party.

----------Flash back-----------

Haru drove Hibari away after his sudden kiss. She glared at him, trying hard to prevent her tears to leak out. "What's the meaning of this, Hibari?"

"I don't have any intention to sever our relationship," he said.

She was stunned. "What? Are you kidding me! You said you don't have any intention to sever our relationship, but you know what, Hibari? You already did! I saw the way you look at her ever since we arrived here! I even saw you kissed her passionately in…in the library! As if those were not enough, today you told Rokudo-san that you still love her! Wh-what kind of 'I don't have any intention' are that! Oh wait, I know. You just want to play with me, right?"

Haru chuckled but she couldn't hold her tears anymore, as she fell to her knees and cried. Hibari was speechless. Never crossed in his mind that Haru saw what he did. "Haru-"

"Why do you treat me like that? You know exactly how I feel for you, and yet you still use it to your own pleasure. Were your insults and wrath to me of Hibird's death not enough? Are you just…I don't know…I'm not a toy, Hibari…."

"What I did in the past and what I did now are different matters," he said.

Haru looked up to him, "What?"

"I'm sorry," he said and she was stunned again. Did she hear what she thought she heard? He took her arms and helped her to stand up. "Sorry if I have hurt you."

-------End of Flashback--------

Haru woke up in the middle of the night, only to find Hibari still in the same position and did the same activity. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she climbed down the bed and sat beside him. He stopped working and turned to her.

"I'm sorry," she said timidly. "I know you're just asking but I took it wrong."

He only smiled and Haru no longer felt annoyed. She stayed beside him until she fell asleep on that position. Hibari, finally realized that his partner was sleeping, moved her again to the bed. Gently stroking her hair, he observed her face. He sighed when the image of her sat side-by-side with Yuhgo reappeared again in his mind.

"I'm jealous, you know."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The next morning, Haru walked with Hibari until they stopped at the departure gate in the airport. He had the first flight today, so she was the one who saw him off.

"Hibari, maybe we'll rarely meet each other, but I hope we can meet once in a while."

He nodded and walked into the bridge, but before he left, he whispered something into her ears. Haru was blushing and Hibari couldn't help but smirk at her reaction. After his plane took off, Haru went back to Yuhgo and Fujiwara, whom waiting in the passenger gate. Not long after the information section announced the departure time, Haru and Yuhgo left for Sapporo. They didn't talk much during the flight, however, her strange expression made him worried.

"What's wrong, Haru?"

"I'm…afraid, Yuhgo. I'm afraid that I can't do it correctly and I will ruin it. I'm afraid that I will make mistakes and I can't fix it. I'm afraid that I'll loose my life because of my recklessness and sickness," Haru said anxiously.

"Is it just that?"

"No. What fears me the most is that even though I can make it 'till the end, everyone will hate me."

Yuhgo took her hand and rubbed it slowly, "You'll do fine, Haru. Even if they end up hating you, you still have your children. If your children end up hating you too, you still have me."

Those words were simple, but it relieved the woman. The worry feeling she had earlier suddenly gone and she could enjoy the rest of the trip. They arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport an hour later and a limousine already prepared for them. Then, their driver took them to Chūō-ku, to meet their client. As the car entered the park lot of Toudou Tower in the heart of the ward, Haru couldn't help but feel anxious again. However, she could control it now.

"Yuhgo, how do I look?" she asked when the elevator brought them to the highest floor, where their client waiting for them. "Do you think I'm neat enough?"

He observed her. She wore an amaranth-colored overcoat that went above her knee, black skirt and white lace-adorned long-sleeve blouse. There was nothing wrong with her appearance. Why did female always worried over her look? "You look fine to me."

She nodded, exhaled and inhaled several long breaths, and last, smiled. "Okay, I'm ready."

The door then opened, revealing a modern-style lounge. With one look, Haru and Yuhgo knew that this place filled with luxurious items that most of them couldn't be found in Velvet. After they got the permission to enter, the woman, whom possibly the secretary of the person owning this building, led the couple inside. Similar with the lounge, this room filled with other collections of luxurious items that surely could make Velvet's treasurer passed out from the thought of the expenses.

"They're here, Toudou-san," the woman said to someone behind the high leather chair.

Haru and Yuhgo couldn't see him since the person sat facing the window and not them. He finally turned his chair around after his secretary left the room. There, sat a handsome young man with sapphire-colored hair and wearing a neat white suit, which most likely made by a famous designer. He stood from his seat and approached her, while smiling and reaching out his hand. Haru finally realized that he had the most beautiful electric-blue eyes she had ever seen in her life.

"Welcome to Sapporo, Miura-san."

* * *

A/n: The decision I took that time made me felt uncomfortable, even until now. I thought I could brush it aside, but apparently I couldn't make a stand about it, and in the end, I hoped you could bear it. Oh, I also hoped this chapter answered your question, Aya-chan~, since I didn't know how to reply you personally. Well, sorry for any mistakes I've done. Review, comment, and criticism are appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	20. Chapter 20

Title: Masquerade

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru, slight OCxHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

It was the same hectic day for every worker in Toudou Tower, including Haru. She just finished an annual report of the company's sales a minute ago and now, she sat as comfortable as she could on her seat in her office booth, waiting for the next command to come. If she was lucky, none would come and she'd having a peaceful lunch break. Glancing once in a while at the closed oak-wood door led to her new boss' room, she pondered. Including today, she has worked in this company for four days. She kind of relieved because her task was easier than she thought it supposed to be, although a minor problem existed. Akihiko enslaved her.

"How does her works?" Yuhgo asked through the phone call.

"She's good. She finished every task given to her on time, and you can say I'm satisfied with it. No wonder you always brag about her." Akihiko stopped talking before he continued, "Toushirou-san, do you think you can lend her a bit longer to me?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Toudou-san. She's a valuable asset to my company, therefore, I can't fulfill your request," Yuhgo smiled and remembered Haru's report in the end of her first day to him. "You haven't forgotten our talk about this, right?"

-Flash back-

"Welcome to Sapporo, Miura-san," Akihiko greeted the woman.

"Thank you for welcoming us, Toudou-san," Haru smiled and shook his hand. After a short courtesy talk about their trip from Tokyo and about her new duties as a staff of Toudou Corporation, Leila, Akihiko's secretary took Haru to her new desk and left the men.

"So, Toushirou-san, is she the one whom you said will help solving my problem?" Akihiko asked.

"Yes, she is. I lend her to you to show my good intention in our cooperation. You can use her anyway you want up to your liking, but you have to ensure her safety and well-being during her stay here."

"Fine with me."

-End of Flash back-

"Of course, I haven't," the man laughed lightly before ended the call.

Akihiko really made good use of Haru's presence. Since the very first day she worked as his assistant, she did everything he ordered her to without any complaint, from carrying a merger talk, until making a coffee for him, which actually was Leila's job. She never rest during the day and sometimes in the night, because Akihiko would call her for a new task. Either accompanying him to a dinner with his colleague, or only asking about the next day plan. In conclusion, her only break was when he was sleeping. Truth be told, Akihiko was amazed because he never saw her collapsed from the tiredness. Other people surely would do so. However, it wasn't enough. He needed to know more of her before he gave the final decision regarding his pact with Velvet.

"Miura-san, come to my office," he called her through the interphone.

Not long after, Haru stood in front of him, "Do you need something, Akihiko-san?"

"Yes," he answered and gave her a rufous-colored envelope with gold-ink written on one of its corner. "I'll fetch you at 7."

Haru was confused until she read the title, a masquerade invitation.

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On the other side of the city, Hibari walked through the shadowy alleyway among the skyscrapers of Chūō-ku, after taking care of another Vongola's enemy. It was an easy mission because those people were easy to defeat, but he was annoyed by the fact that their leader was still alive somewhere. The first time he discovered their hideout, he only found the underlings. They wouldn't spill anything to him about their leader's location and he almost killed them all, if Kusakabe didn't prevent him. Leaving the interrogation to his subordinate, Hibari waited in his car. Not long after, Kusakabe and his men came back with something in his hand.

"Got anything?" Hibari said lazily.

"They kept their mouths shut until the end. But we found this," Kusakabe took something from his pocket and gave it to Hibari. "I assume we can find their leader there."

Hibari received the expensive-looking envelope and read its content. It was an invitation to a party, which actually the same as the one Haru received from Akihiko. Smirked at the chance of finishing his mission soon, Hibari left the place with his men. They have party to attend.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later in Haru's apartment in Toyohira-ku, Yuhgo was reading a business magazine in her couch, when the woman stepped out of the bedroom. He put down the magazine and observed the woman, after she asked his opinion about her looks. She wore a strapless chartreuse-colored short dress with a big flower-alike object sewed above the left chest, and several diagonally aligned small green beads from the left part to the right part of the clothes as an ornament, almost hidden behind the layered hem. She also wore a pair of verity nude shoes, a regale gold clutch, an emerald butterfly and rhinestones hairclip, and to complete her appearance, a gold mask with two green feathers on its side. She grinned when he gave her a thumb up. She was lucky Mana had packed up a dress in her suitcase, or else, she had to buy a new one.

"Before I forget, Mana-chan told me to tell you 'Don't ruin this dress!'" Yuhgo said mimicking the tone of the pink-haired girl when she called this afternoon.

"I'll try," Haru replied and sat beside Yuhgo. It was still half an hour to go before her appointment time. "Yuhgo, why do you think he want me to come to this event?"

"I don't know," Yuhgo leant back on the couch. "Maybe he want you to persuade someone again, or maybe he just wants you to relax a bit on your weekend. Whatever it is, I suggest you to be careful. You still don't know much about him, right?"

"You know I will," Haru said and started to apply a simple make-up on her face.

"Haru," he called her name and she turned to him again. "Does he remind you of Leon?"

The brunette was shocked, "NO! Leon is a nice man, and, despite his…bad personality, he's a total gentleman, especially to someone he really cared of. Akihiko-san is different. He's a gentleman too, but it's just his cover. I know he hides his true self under his good demeanor and I don't think I could ever get along with him. Oh yeah, they also have different figure and appearance. Besides, Leon's more handsome than Akihiko-san."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you still loved him," Yuhgo tried not to laugh when she frowned at his statement. Nevertheless, he was kind of jealous knowing that Fermiere guy still meant something to her. "But you call Toudou-san by his nickname. Isn't that making you at least friendly towards him?"

Haru stopped for the second time, "Yuhgo, you sure know how to twist my words, don't you?"

"That's one of my ability."

Haru smiled as she finished her make-up. Yuhgo left her apartment ten minutes before 7, so that Akihiko wouldn't meet him. It'd be a bad thing if he found Yuhgo, whom he thought supposed to be in Tokyo, hung around in her place. Before he left, he fixed her hairclip and reminded her to be careful again. Not long after she closed the door, the bell rang. She thought it was Yuhgo again and almost scolded him, when she saw it was a different man stood before her.

"Good evening," he greeted her. "I hope I'm not too early."

They left in five minutes and half an hour later, they arrived in front of a five-star hotel in Susukino. As written on the invitation card, the party was held in the biggest VIP hall on the first floor. Wearing her mask, Haru encircled her arm in Akihiko's before the doorman opened the door for them. When they entered the place, a blare of techno music and a typical club's atmosphere greeted the couple. Haru thought they went to a wrong place, but Akihiko laughed and assured her that they were in the right one. According to him, it was an after party of his colleagues' wedding that held a week ago. They had busy schedules, so they postponed the party until today, and because they were an eccentric couple, they chose to do a mask party instead of a normal one. Haru nodded as her brain processed new information. If she intended to work longer for him, she had to remember this thing. Besides, it might be useful for her in the future.

Haru observed her surroundings as she followed his step. A mix of elegant and funky style found all over the wide hall as the main theme. A vast choice of foods and beverages served on a long buffet table, waiting to be taken into someone's plate. Everyone was enjoying themselves, dancing, eating, anything they could do to enjoy the party. Although every guest's face covered by a mask, Haru knew most of them were famous people, like politician, celebrity, or a businessman. She could even pointed out some of her clients, which she thanked her mask for covering her face. It wouldn't be good for her if they saw her here. She followed Akihiko everywhere until she felt thirsty and decided to drink something. Taking time to choose one beverage, she coincidentally heard an interesting conversation from the couple stood not far from her. Pretending to take the glass behind them, she went unnoticed when putting a micro tapper in the black-masked man's pocket. After walking back to her seat and activating the speaker function in her earring, she listened to them. It wasn't good to eavesdrop, but the name being mentioned by the black-masked man piqued her interest.

"We'll do the deliverance tonight, Mikami-sama," the black-masked man said to the white-masked one. "Masayuki has sent the complete product to our office."

"Have you forgotten my order not to mention any name, especially mine and his, while we're here?" the white-masked man said coldly and his companion apologized immediately. He looked around for a while before turned again to the white-masked man, "Let's move to a quieter place."

Haru watched the couple moved to a table in an empty corner. She listened to them, as they talked about the place, the packet, and the person in charge of the whole process, before they separated and mixed with the crowd. Relaying the information she got to her phone, Haru sent a message to Yuhgo, and told him to find out more about that. When she put back her phone to her purse, a hand was extended to her. It was Akihiko's.

"May I ask your willingness to have a waltz with me, Lady?" he asked.

She smiled and took his hand. Focusing too much on the conversation, she didn't realize that the song has changed to a slower one. It's been a long time since the last time she had a waltz with someone, and she warned Akihiko that she might step on his foot. She didn't want to embarrass him by doing a silly mistake like that. He just laughed and told her to follow him. She nodded and relaxed her body, letting him led the move. Finally getting the hang of it, she started to enjoy it as her body swayed by his motion and the song. They danced for about fifteen minutes before went back to their table.

"Akihiko-san, is there any specific reason for you taking me here?" Haru asked when they sat down.

"No reason. Just think of it as my way to apologize, for giving you too much works these several days," he answered calmly. Really too much, Haru thought but didn't say it. She definitely passed out if it were not for supplements from her brother, constant check from Yuhgo, and various kinds of support from her other staff. If it wasn't for their help, she wouldn't be here right now. She knew the man before her wanted to test how well she could execute his order and how far she could endure his pressure. He gave her a, if she wasn't mistaken, sweet but sinister smile, "I hope you enjoy it."

"I am," she smiled back.

He might be her superior, but she would never let him win. Both stared into each others' eyes, exchanging an unspoken challenge between the looks. It ended when his phone rang. Reading the name of the caller, he then excused himself to answer it. Haru watched him gone behind the door located not far from their table, before let out a relieved breathe. However, the ring tone of her own mobile phone almost made her jump. It was a mystery to her, why her hearing could recognize the sound out of the noisy place.

"Aniki, now's not the good time to make a call," she said after reading the name.

"What are you doing anyway?" he asked suspiciously, hearing the music and the chatters behind the woman.

"Doing my job. Now tell me why you call."

There was a short silent before he answered, "It has been finished and I gave it to Riku. He said he would go there this afternoon."

"You did? That's great!" Haru grinned. "I think Riku supposed to be in Yuhgo's place now. Anything else?"

Haru didn't hear his answer. At that time, her eyes caught two familiar masked-figures stood beside the door Akihiko had passed through a moment ago. She shook her head and laughed, her mind must be playing a trick on her. Besides, those two not supposed to be here. Not to forget one of them was a crowd-hater. Nevertheless, what if those people were really them? A slight panic and curiosity invaded her mind, as well as a hope that she was wrong. She glanced and focused her sight, only to fully recognize them.

"Haru?" Fujiwara called her but she was too focused on those two.

'What are those two doing here!' Haru thought to herself.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yuhgo observed the content of the box Riku gave him, after he arrived in Yuhgo's apartment an hour ago. It was a small bag consists of ten white capsules with a word printed in red. Haru requested Fujiwara to make a new antidote to counter the medicine she found in Siracusa, and it was the result. He never thought Fujiwara could finish it this fast. It was only a prototype, but he made it nonetheless.

"_It's still imperfect. I know someone who could make a much better one, Yuhgo. That man doesn't even need to make any prototype beforehand."_

Fujiwara stated that when Yuhgo called him. Yuhgo didn't say anything, but he believed his words. He knew the man Fujiwara mentioned was the same person with the man whom created that cursed drug. At least Haru called it like that, as she already had a taste on it.

"Hey, Yuhgo, do you have any stock of ramen or any kind of instant food here? I'm hungry," Riku asked when looking at Yuhgo's kitchen cabinet.

"Search in the left cabinet," Yuhgo answered nonchalantly and approached Riku in the kitchen, whom now started cooking his newfound food.

"Oh, by the way, I've met that Mist guy on my way here," Riku said and turned to him.

"Mist guy?"

"You know, the one Haru called Rokudou-san." Yuhgo almost dropped the box to the floor.

* * *

A/n: Phew, all the main heroes (except one) are present/mention in one chapter. Not much action and detail, too many repeated words. Hope this chapter is acceptable, despite the mistake and the mess I've done to it. Well, review, comment, and criticism are appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	21. Chapter 21

Title: Masquerade [Part 2]

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru, slight OCxHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Hibari was annoyed. The place was too crowded, the music was too loud, and the light was too flashy for his taste. Most of all, he met the man he distaste the most, and he had to resist the urge to beat him on the spot. He wouldn't do this if only he didn't remember his first purpose for coming here. At least this stupid half-face mask suggested by Kusakabe hid his frown.

"What are you doing here?" Hibari asked, still tried to calm.

"I'm enjoying the party. I should ask the same to you. What are you doing here?" Mukuro asked back, clearly teased him.

"It's none of your business," he replied dryly and the conversation stopped, as another silence came between them.

"Don't you think this occasion brings back an old memory to you?" Mukuro spoke first after a long ten minutes, and Hibari gave him a what-do-you-mean look. Mukuro couldn't help but smiled, "So you've forgotten it. Kufufu, maybe it's for the best," he paused momentarily, "Well, I'd love to stay a bit longer, but I have something to do. We can continue our talk in another time."

With that, Mukuro left Hibari and went into the crowd. Hibari, although slightly curious with Mukuro's question, continued scanned the room in search of his target. It was a difficult job to do, since every man was wearing mask and he didn't know what clothes his target wore tonight. Then, his phone rang.

"Our spy saw him walked on the third floor and entered room 212," Kusakabe informed through the call.

Hibari went to said place immediately, and kind of relief he didn't have to spend another time in this noisy place anymore. Taking lift to the third floor, he walked to the door with a brown plank numbered '212' hung on it. He silently broke into the room with his 'partner' readied. He closed the door and went to the main part of the bedroom. The lights suddenly were off before it was on again moment later, and brightened the room. Feeling it was too bright, he turned the lamp off before continued walking. He searched around the area but the person he was looking for was nowhere. When he intended to search in the bathroom, he saw something moving under the blanket on the bed. He approached and moved the blanket slowly, revealing a naked red-haired woman.

"Are you done yet, Hun?" she spoke sweetly and opened her eyes, stared at Hibari, and screamed a second later.

"What happen!" someone opened the bathroom door and shouted, only to be greeted by the sight of his woman's head connected with Hibari's tonfa.

Hibari glanced at him. Grey-haired man in his late 40, a large tattoo of mole on his right arm, and a face Hibari recognized as his target. That man only wore brown towel to cover his lower body, a look of terror and shock expression clearly showed on his face. Hibari was happy, as he didn't have to search anymore; his prey willingly came to him. That old man grabbed a handgun lay on the table beside him and tried to shoot. Hibari, however, already stood in front of him and ended his life in one fluid movement. Wiping off the blood from his weapon, Hibari walked to the door. Suddenly, a group of men barged in from there.

"Boss! We-shit!" one of them cursed when seeing his leader lay on the blood pool. He, as well as the others, turned to Hibari with rage. "KILL HIM!"

The Cloud Guardian moved swiftly and avoided the bullets as his legs brought him closer to them by each step. He didn't give those people enough time to live long. He wanted to get out of here quickly, and no way he would let them took more of his time. When it was over, Hibari looked at the mess he had created. The room was splattered with blood and dead bodies everywhere. He threw a glance for the last time before walked out. Almost reaching the door, Hibari stopped as the corner of his eyes caught a movement from his side. One of the men was still alive and pointed a gun to him. When Hibari realized it, that man already pulled the trigger.

"DOR!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

[Ballroom, 25 minutes earlier]

Haru hid behind the nearest wall, a second after she saw the two. She hoped both didn't see her, despite their sharp eyes, as it'd ruin everything. She hadn't planned any excuse and she definitely wouldn't want to explain, if one of them found her and questioning about her presence. She was confused, panic, and angered. Of all places they could be in this city, why did they have to be here, in the same room with her?

"Haru, something's wrong?" Fujiwara asked and startled the woman.

"Oh, no, nothing, I just forgot we're still on the line," Haru answered as calm as she could. "Aniki, I'll call you later. Bye."

"So, it is really you," someone whispered in her ear from behind and took off her mask.

"Hahi!" Haru turned around and found the Mist Guardian towered her. Straightening her body and extending her hand, she looked at him sternly. "Rokudou-san, give it back."

Said man let out his usual laugh and gave the object back to the owner. "I'd never thought to meet you in this event."

"Same here," Haru wore her mask again.

She looked around, afraid someone would notice her, especially Akihiko and her clients. She couldn't let them saw her hanging around with someone from Vongola. Mukuro was too stood-out although he was in his usual getup and wore a mask. Even now, she could feel many sharp looks on her. Not to forget the envious one everytime he turned down an offer to dance from any women. Actually, she hoped that the man beside her would accept one offer immediately and she could be free. She realized by then that Hibari was nowhere. He probably went after someone, pretty much his target. That was the most logical reason to make an unsocial person like him come to an event like this. Even on the most important day in her life, he limited the number of the guest to two people. Well, he gave her a sweet return in the end.

"Don't you think this masquerade brings back an old memory, Haru?" Mukuro asked out of the blue, repeating the almost similar question he asked Hibari before.

Haru knew very well what he meant by that. "Yes, it is. I'm surprise you still remember it."

"I'd never forget it. I want to, but I can't," he turned to her. "And I know that you're the one who hurt the most."

"Nah, it doesn't bother me that much now," she said.

Mukuro didn't say anything, only looking at the woman. She became a good liar now. Somehow, a mixture feeling of pity, amuse, and pride appeared inside him. When he wanted to talk more, he saw someone among the crowd. "That's good. Well, I need to go now. I hope we can have a much longer conversation the next time we meet," Mukuro smiled and left her.

Haru didn't move from her position, while it was the thing she wanted to do since the moment he appeared before her. To be honest, his words and act puzzled her (and how he could recognize her among the crowd was still mystery to her), ever since they befriended each other. Mukuro would say a nice thing, but in second count, he turned into a sadistic bastard. It pretty much reminded her of Hibari. She almost thought that maybe it was the reason behind Hibari's hostility to Mukuro, despite their not-so-lovely past. That was also the reason why she never told him about her relationship with Mukuro. If he finally knew, at least it wasn't from her mouth.

"I'm thinking too much," she mumbled to herself and went to the restroom.

She might have built a high resistance to alcohol over the years, but her body still couldn't keep that amount of liquid for a long time. Either dumped it or had a stomachache, she chose the first. When fixing her make-up, the lights suddenly got out and everything was dark. The other occupants of the room went out screaming frantically while Haru just stayed. She wasn't that afraid of darkness now, besides she didn't want to get stomp by those girls and the lights was on then. However, when she heard a sequence sounds of gun firing from afar, a fear crept up her heart. Was it Hibari, Mukuro, or some stranger? Grabbing her clutch, she went out of the restroom immediately. On the way to the ballroom, when she turned around the corner of the passage, she saw a familiar figure slumped behind the big pot of chamaedorea palm. She approached it cautiously; afraid that whoever it was might be an enemy or a friend.

"Hibari…," the name went out of her lips, after she recognized the figure.

She ran to him, not caring that her act might trouble her. Squinted down beside the man, she fast-observed his condition. He sat closed eyes, his body leaned on the wall behind him, his breath ragged, and cold sweat flowed down his face. Remembering the gunshot she heard earlier, she opened his blazer, revealing a big splotch of dark red color in the middle part of his purple shirt. When she wanted to take a better look, his hand suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Wh-who-," he was cut off.

Gently rubbing his hand with her free hand then wiping his forehead with her handkerchief, she tried to assure him that she wasn't his enemy. She couldn't speak or it'd blow her cover. When he finally let go of her hand and didn't move after that, she panicked. She quickly buttoned his blazer again and helped him to stand. She needed to get him out of here. Haru took the back passage while remembering the map Yuhgo had given her before she left to the party. There was a door to outside located not far from the janitor room. She had to stop midway, when she saw a group of people came from her direction. Cursing her own luck, she turned around and hid behind the dark corner, waiting for those people to pass through. After a long five minutes, the area was cleared and she continued walking. However, his foot tripped over hers and they almost fell to the floor, if only Haru didn't grab his arm. It was hard to walk if you brought someone whose weight and height were heavier and taller than yours. When they finally arrived on the dark alleyway behind the hotel, Haru was proud to herself. This time, she wasn't the one being helped by him. Taking his phone from his inside pocket, she sent a message to Kusakabe to fetch Hibari. She knew he was around here, waiting for any command from his boss to support his action.

"Please, don't let yourself get caught, okay?" she smiled sadly and planted a small kiss on his forehead.

In just three minutes, Kusakabe and his men arrived and brought Hibari away. Haru watched them leave from her hiding place, before went back to the ballroom. She stopped by the restroom again, to do something with the blood on her dress. She possibly got it when she helped him to walk. Taking out a small bottle filled with transparent water-like liquid from her purse, she sprayed the content to the dress, which erased the splotch completely in no time. Though it only lasted for five hours, it was enough for now, because if her hunch was right, she would undergo an interrogation related to the killing which Hibari did not long ago. If these red signs still lingered in her dress, she could picture them arrested her. She should thank Yuhgo for making her this helpful thing, and she should thank God for giving her a chemistry maniac like him. Calming herself and acting like nothing happened, she entered the ballroom and she was right. Polices were scattered around the room and interrogated the guests. She approached Akihiko after she saw him. He didn't put on his mask anymore and was talking with an old man wearing a brown long coat.

"Akihiko-san, what happen?" she asked casually and pretend to be confused.

"Ah, Miura-san! Where have you been? Are you okay?" he asked back.

It was strange to her, but she sensed a worry tone beneath his voice. "I was in the restroom. Ano, can you tell me what happen?"

"Someone has been killed in second floor and we haven't found him, Miss," the other man answered her.

"Him?"

"The killer. One of the worker said that after she heard shots sound, she ran to the room 212, where the incident happened. She then saw a man walked out of the room. She said he has short black hair and wore a black suit. Too bad she didn't see his face. Did you, by any chance, meet someone like that?" he asked again.

"No, I'm sorry but I didn't," Haru said though she knew very well who was the person they were talking about.

That man asked other questions to Haru and Akihiko for the next 30 minutes, before leaving the place with his subordinates. Akihiko, feeling tired, left early with Haru. He wanted to drop her in her apartment, but she refused and said that she had to buy something first.

"Are you sure? It's almost eleven now. Don't you think it's a bit dangerous for a woman like you to wander around at this hour?" he asked unsure.

"Don't worry, Akihiko-san. The store isn't far from my place."

Akihiko silent for a while before continued talking. "At least let me accompany you to shop. I have promised your safety to Toushirou-san, and it's a breach if I let something happen to you."

Haru had to receive his offer. He never left her, from the time they entered the store until the time they finished shopping. He even paid it with his own money. Haru wasn't sure whether she should thank him or suspicious.

"Someone offered me an agreement with his family tonight. And guess what? It's none other than the infamous Vongola family," he spoke suddenly, during the walk to his car.

And it clicked her. That was the reason of Mukuro's presence at the party. "That's great news, Akihiko-san. What was your answer if I may know?"

"I said I'd think it over," he moved dangerously close to her, "It's supposed to be a secret after all."

"Secret? Then, why are you telling me this?" Haru slowly took a distance but he prevented her.

"Because you're one of them."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hibari cracked an eye, facing the white color in front of him. He blinked for a while before recognize the view as a ceiling. When he put his hand on his forehead, a pain appeared from his abdomen. Oh yeah, he got shoot by that bastard. Hibari only gotten shot once, but it was still a shoot nonetheless. If only that man were still alive, Hibari would surely chased him down again and beat him into bloody pulp. But, as far as he could remember, he was stuck in that hotel's passage when trying to run. Then, someone came and helped him escape. Because of his blurry sight, he thought that person was enemy and almost killed whoever it was. However, when that person slowly rubbing his hand, the insecure feeling he felt vanished. He was unconscious after that and didn't know what happen. The question now, who was that person?

"Hibari-san, you're awake!" Kusakabe exclaimed suddenly. He wanted to say something but a glare from Hibari was enough to shut his mouth.

"How did I get here?"

"We found you unconscious in the back alley, and then we brought you here."

Huh? "Did you see other person there?"

"No. After we received the message, we went there quickly, but you're alone by the time we found you, Hibari-san."

"What message?"

"A message to fetch you. You sent it with your phone," Kusakabe replied and he was confused, did Hibari got his head hit somewhere?

Hibari only stared at the ceiling again. He knew he wasn't the writer of the message. That same person had to be the one who used his phone and sent it to Kusakabe. "Strange," he mumbled and touched his forehead. There was a warm feeling there that he himself couldn't describe. "Was it…"

Hibari slept again as the sedative effect still working. One of his men came in and gave Kusakabe a small bag on his hand. It filled with the stuffs Hibari had worn or found in his suit, as the clothes were being washed. Inside, he found several things including Hibari's weapon boxes and his phone, but the object attracted him the most was a tiny object he never saw before. He took it out. It was a hairclip ornamented with green butterfly-shaped stone.

'I don't know Hibari-san's into this kind of thing,' he thought and put the object back to the bag.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru walked with difficulty to her apartment building. Her body felt heavy and a sharp pain was attacking her head, ever since she parted with Akihiko five minutes ago. When she passed by the small playground, she decided to sat down on one of the bench. Dropping her shopping bag beside her, she opened her purse and hastily looked for her medicine. A chain of sweet curse directed to herself was made, when she couldn't find any single familiar white pill. Then she remembered that she left it on her vanity.

"Stupid Haru!"

The pain was growing bigger and Haru couldn't stand it. It felt like hundred needles were planted on her head, and the numbers were increasing. It was excruciating. She didn't even realize blood trailed from her lips, since she bit it too hard, only to reduce the pain. At least, she could keep her consciousness in place. Grabbing her phone, she fought the pain and intended to call Yuhgo or Riku, when two old drunk people appeared before her. She tried to walk away, but her legs gave up in the fourth steps and those two were squealed in happiness. Their steps getting closer and within those steps, she could feel her consciousness slipped away. She was afraid now. Knowing she couldn't handle those two with condition like this, she hoped a miracle would happen.

"Hey, don't disturb my girl," a masculine voice was heard from their behind.

That person successfully got rid of them and approached her. Haru tried to see his face, but she was at her limit. The last image she saw was that person called her with panic.

-x-

"_What do you want now?" she asked him with a suppressed pain and anger.__ That man stood before her, practically ignoring question. The moment later, he turned on the music. He then pulled her up, and hugged her gently. As the song started to play, he led her to dance. Not really dance, since she did nothing besides leaned on his body. She didn't even have any energy left to stand up, how could she have energy to dance? "Why are you treating me like this?"_

_He laughed. "It's better than seeing you with him."_

"_Just kill me, then," she said, almost pleading._

"_And letting you free from me? I don't think so, my beloved woman. I'd never let you go," he smirked and kissed her deeply before looking straight into her eyes. "Never."_

-x-

Haru awoke abruptly. Tears still flowed freely as she remembered the dream. Why did she have to remember that? But, where was she? She was supposed to be on the dusted ground in the playground, and not on the clean bed in a bedroom. Did that person who saved her brought her here? Hoped he didn't have any ill intention to her, or else-

"Are you okay?" someone asked and she turned to him with an odd look. "Ah, don't be afraid. I'm the one who saved you from those drunkards. I don't know where I should take you so I brought you to my house. But, don't worry! I won't do anything bad to you. You can call the police if you think I-"

Her expression changed after hearing the fact and she smiled, "Thank you for saving me." He grinned and Haru couldn't help but laughed. Then she realized that her headache was gone. "It's not painful anymore."

"Oh, I gave you my usual medicine for headache. It works a lot to me, so I thought it'll work to you, too," he said and gave her a glass of water, but he dropped it to the floor before she took it. He looked at her terrified. "You're bloodied!"

Haru gaped at his statement, only following the direction of his finger to the left side of her dress. Oh, that. The spray effect has worn out and the splotches were back. "It wasn't mine."

He was confused but didn't dare to ask further. It was rude of him if he inquired much from her. After she felt much better, that man drove her home with his bicycle. Haru felt nostalgic with this but she said nothing. His house apparently wasn't really far from her apartment. After he left, Haru checked her stuffs. Everything was still there, but something's missing.

"Where's my hairclip?"

* * *

A/n: Phew, another chapter with all the main heroes presented/mentioned. Maybe it'll be the last time for them to appear together. Hope this chapter is acceptable, despite any predictable event, any mistake, and any mess I've done to it. Well, review, comment, question, and criticism are welcome. See you in the next chapter and thank you for reading!


	22. Chapter 22

Title: Second Meet

Genre: Angst/Romance

Pairing: HibarixHaru

Disclaimer: Katekyō Hitman Reborn rightfully owned by Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Hibari sat on the passenger room of Shin-Chitose Airport, waiting for the announcement of his flight to Namimori. After bedridden for two days, his doctor finally allowed him to do his activities like usual, with an addition of threat if the old man didn't grant his wish. Kusakabe stood not far from him, busy with his phone. Hibari didn't pay much attention as his eyes directed at the hairclip on his hand. He found it along other things on his desk. Kusakabe told him that he found the hairclip in the pocket of Hibari's suit. Although strange, it answered his question about his helper's identity, especially with an initial sculpted under the butterfly. The small accessories brought back the memory of a time, when he gave the necklace to the woman, a week before that day.

- [_Flashback_] -

Haru stomped her way to their living room, irritated with the man walked behind her. If not for her pencil skirt, she could take a longer step away from him.

"What's with the gloom?" he asked and she stopped.

"You've lost my hairclip! It's my favorite and you've lost it! Besides, it's worth my three-month wages! Now I have to save money again…," she mumbled on the last sentence and continued walking.

So that was the cause of her gloomy aura the whole day. But, she was wrong. He didn't lose it on purpose. He only borrowed the object for awhile and it was gone the moment he took his sight out of it. "Such a complaint for something so invaluable like that," he said and took something from his pocket.

Haru turned around, almost snapped at the man, but stopped at the sight of a small paper-wrapped box in his hand. "What's that?"

"Obviously, it's a box," he answered and Haru rolled her eyes. Seeing she didn't make any move to take it from him, he shoved it into her hand. "For you."

Haru only stared, surprised at the words. He rarely (and almost never) gave her something, especially in form of a gift. Haru provided her needs with her own money and it made him started to wonder, whether they really had a special relationship or not. A woman supposed to ask her man to buy her something at least once, right? He only knew that Haru wasn't angry anymore now. Maybe the thought of him gave her gift has erased her anger. Sitting down on wooden tatami, she jovially unwrapped the paper. Taking a breath, she then opened the box. Inside, on top of the soft black cloth, she found a simple platinum necklace with emerald pendant. She looked at the jewelry, expressionless. Looking at her face, Hibari almost thought that she didn't like it.

"Is it for me?" she asked and Hibari could feel her doubt, but there were also excitement and awe. He nodded and she smiled. "Thank you…but, may I know why are you giving me this? I know it must be expensive, so…um…"

It was pretty expensive, but considering what she had done for him, it was nothing. Okay, he couldn't say that reason. Let's found another one. "A thank for the watch."

"What watch?" she turned to him and asked, confused with his reply.

"The watch you gave me," he said again, confused as well. Did she forget her own gift?

"Hahi? I think I've never given you any watch before, Hibari," she took out the necklace and extended it to him.

He found it rather odd since he knew very well that she was the one whom gave him that silver watch. He didn't ask further, though. Looking at her gesture, he understood her unspoken request. "You have hands, aren't you?"

"You've lost my hairclip, so you have no rights to refuse," she put her hand on her waist, as if commanding him.

"Why do I have to put up with you?" he muttered but did as she wanted.

"It's really beautiful. I won't lose it," she smiled again, caressing the necklace now hung on her neck, before a frown appeared. "But too bad, it'll match my hairclip if I wear it together."

Hibari face-palmed and Haru grinned. The next day, he found Haru's missing hairclip in his pocket, next to his weapon box.

- [_End of Flashback_] -

How did that thing be in there, he didn't know. It saddened him somehow. At that time, he thought the necklace would at least make her feel better after the horrible event. She did feel better and he was relieved. That, before he finally knew about her condition and her brother gave him the warning.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

In his office, Tsuna received a call from Mukuro about his conversation with Akihiko. It wasn't good but Tsuna believed it would change to a better one. When he ended the call, Reborn came in with Bianchi. She gave Tsuna a report of the underground activities in Hokkaido.

"The drug traffic has grown more rapidly there. We sent a spy to investigate but we lost contact with him since a week ago. Based on the last received information, our team analyzed the situation and this graphic is the results. It is the trade rate and, as it shows, Mikami has the biggest income than the other dealers. We don't know for sure how much he earned this past week, but we predict that his profit would increase ten times or maybe more. There's also a rumor that a new type of drug has run riot on the market. Unfortunately, we still couldn't get our hands on it," Bianchi explained shortly.

"A week and a new drug," Tsuna said and read the report. "Have you sent a new spy, Bianchi-san?"

"I have, but there's no news from him. I'm afraid he'd end up the same with the previous one," she shook her head.

Bianchi explained some parts of the report before left the room half an hour later. Tsuna reread the file and sighed. If it's continued, it would endanger Vongola's position among its allies. He knew those people would expect him to do something about it, and he had to. However, before he took an act, he had to know what kind of person Mikami was, or anything related to him such as his company or his men. Too bad, Bianchi couldn't provide that. She said that Mikami was a mysterious person. He rarely appeared in the public and all his activities did by his subordinates, therefore not much news about him could be taken. The only information they could get up until now was just about his trade or his colleagues. It was good but it wasn't enough.

"Tsuna, you send Haru to spy on Mikami, right?" Reborn asked and Tsuna nodded. "Has she sent anything to you?"

"No, she hasn't. I hope nothing bad happen to her, since we don't know much about Mikami."

"And Mukuro? How's his talk with Toudou?"

"He said Toudou wanted to think it over first. I hope he'd agree, or else, we have to take him down."

A short silence came before Reborn asked sharply. "What if they fail, Tsuna? What will you do?"

"They won't, Reborn-san. I'm sure they won't fail," Tsuna replied confidently.

"You better keep that faith 'till the end," Reborn smiled.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

In his apartment, Yuhgo made lunch for two while Riku prepared the instrument that he would use tonight. Yuhgo was taking the beef off the pan when his phone rang. Turning off the stove, he then answered the call. After short conversation, the call ended.

"Who's calling?" Riku asked, still checking the micro camera in front of him.

"It's Haru. Toudou wants her to do some chores in his place, so she can't come," Yuhgo answered and sat beside the blue-haired man.

Riku stopped working and turned to him, "What? Today's her day off and she's still working? Does she become his servant now?"

The older man shrugged. "I don't know, but that's listed in the contract. She can't refuse his order until he signs it."

"Great. Why do I get the feeling that he intentionally prolongs the time and uses it for his own benefit?"

"Uh-uh, no bad talks about our client, Riku-kun."

The younger man rolled his eyes before continued his task. Yuhgo actually agreed with Riku in this matter. He knew Akihiko wanted to test Haru so he made that contract. She willed to fulfill it as long as she was able to do his order. Yuhgo, left with no other choice, had to agree and support her decision. It happened since the day Akihiko offered the work to Velvet, personally. He actually was unsure about the offer, knowing Akihiko's position to Vongola.

- [_Flashback_] -

"Haru, are you sure you want to accept this job? That person can be a threat to Vongola, and you know what will happen if they find out you're working for him," Yuhgo worriedly said to her.

Haru smiled. "Don't worry, Yuhgo. They only knew that my mission deals with Mikami and I've got nothing to do with Toudou. They won't find out if I'm careful. Besides, if we successfully finish this job, you can say that Toudou will become our next sponsor."

"If you say so. But I hope you're prepared for the worst."

"Yuhgo, please don't say thing like that. I'm trying to be optimistic here," she frowned and he just laughed.

- [_End of Flashback_] -

Haru might never told him about her daily works, but judging from her condition when she came back from the office, he couldn't help but felt sad. He thought it was too much, but he could do nothing. He just hoped that Akihiko would give her more free time to rest.

"Hey, Yuhgo, don't space out or you'll be possessed by some spirit," Riku said and it earned him a hit on his head.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Haru walked around the Nijo Market, in search of good and fresh seafood for today's lunch. She didn't do it happily, though, since it wasn't her plan to spend her valuable day-off walking through the place like this. If it wasn't for the contract and the info, she preferred to spend the day with Yuhgo and Riku. She still remembered his monotone and cocky voice when he called her this morning.

- [_Flashback_] -

"Miura-san, I want you to come to my place this noon and clean the place because one of our colleagues will come tonight. Oh yeah, don't forget to buy the ingredients for lunch," he said fluently.

"But, don't you-"

"I also got a new info about him, that if you have any interest to know," he added and it silenced the woman.

"What do you want for lunch, Akihiko-san?" and she could picture his winning expression.

- [_End of Flashback_] -

At least he didn't request for a difficult meal. Crab cakes, tempura, and salad. She almost got all the ingredients, leaving only one more to buy, a shrimp. When looking through the line of the seafood stands, she heard an announcement of big discount of all seafood that came from the crowd on one of the shop. She ran immediately there, in hope to get a fresh, good, and cheap shrimp, just like the others. Bracing herself, she joint the crowd, as well as mad her way to the front place. A series of shouts, curses, shrieks, and even cry of joy could be heard. Haru had to close her ears, or she'd be deaf the moment she escaped this mass.

After long minutes of struggle, she saw it. A white box filled with big sparkling shrimps. Wait, it was only her imagination. Shrimp didn't spark. She strode to its direction, didn't care whether she stepped on someone's foot or not, her eyes only set to the shrimp. When she finally had her hands on it, another person also did the same as her, and on the same object. Not wanting to lose, she fully grabbed the box and pulled it with all her might, almost dragging that person as well. She turned around and prepared to run, when she bumped into someone. Without wasting any time, she stood immediately, apologized, and ran to pay the shrimp.

"Phew, it's all complete now," she said and grinned widely.

"That's good then," someone chuckled. When Haru saw that person, she felt familiar. A white-skinned young man with a pretty face, mauve-colored hair, and red-colored eye. If it wasn't for his body and clothes, she'd mistaken him for a woman. Then she remembered. He was the person that saved her from the drunkards two days ago, and the person she bumped into just a moment ago. Knowing she recognized him now, he smiled. "Hi."

"Hi, too!" she happily replied his greeting. "Hahi, thank you for your help that time and sorry for bumping into you today. I didn't meant to do that, but…you know."

"I understand. It happens a lot whenever someone gives a big discount around here. Well, how do you do? I hope you're not being bothered by another drunkard since that day," he replied and chuckled again. "So, are you finished yet or still want to buy something?" he asked and eyed her shopping bag.

"Oh, I'm done here. I think I'll go home now. How about you?"

"Nah, I'm just taking a walk around here."

They walked together until the nearest bus-stop. Not long after, his bus came and he entered it, while Haru waiting for hers with other people. After the bus left, Haru just remembered that she still didn't know his name.

"Miura Haru?" a soft voice called her name. Haru turned around and saw two big black-suited men towering her with a scary face. The only thing crossed his mind the moment she saw them was, how could they have a voice like that. It was even softer than hers! As if knew about her confusion, a beautiful woman appeared from behind them. "Our leader requests for your presence in his place."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The person Haru met earlier walked out of the bus and headed to the shopping center located not far from the bus-stop. After a short walk, he entered a small flower shop with colorful flowers adorning the place.

"Is he inside?" he asked to the black-haired woman whom watering the plants.

"Yes, he's waiting for you," she answered without stopping her task.

He went to the backside of the shop, stepped down the stairs to the basement, and walked to the darkest corner of the room. Activating a switch on the wall, a hidden door appeared. He opened it and faced a long passage with several doors on both sides. Some were made from iron, some were made from wood. He kept walking until he reached the end, a small lounge with a set of chairs and table. A bald man sat on one of the chairs, reading a gravure magazine. He greeted him before entering the only door in the room. Once inside, he closed the door and approached the man whom sat in the middle of the room, feet on the table, hands holding a magazine. That man's favorite.

"You should stop reading that magazine, Mikami," the man said and sat in an empty chair in front of the desk. "It'll corrupt your mind."

"My mind's already corrupted since born." The man called Mikami put the magazine on the desk and smirked, "Do you bring my request, Jirou?"

Jirou nodded and put a small bag of black-colored capsules beside the magazine. "How does the market's reaction to our last product?"

"It's a success," Mikami said and observed the content of the bag before turned to the Jirou. "you seldom show that expression. Is something's good happened?"

"Well, I've just met someone," he answered and smiled.

* * *

A/n: Well, not much to say here except sorry for the mistakes. Review, comment, question, and criticism are welcome. See you in the next chapter and thank you for reading!


	23. Chapter 23

Title: Her Birthday

Genre: Angst/Romance

Characters: Haru, OC

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira-sensei, except the OCs.

* * *

Haru wondered what kind of dream she had last night. Was it a bad one or a good one? She also wondered, what kind of wish she said before she went to sleep. As far as she remembered, she wished the best for today's work and she dreamt that she won a trip around the world. Those were good things, right? If someone prayed for a good thing and had a good dream, that someone would also get something good, right? Then again, if it were true, why did she have to be in this situation?

"Playtime's over, bitch!" a shout heard not far from her position.

Yes, right now she was trapped in this rooftop, with an armed man chasing her and she didn't have any weapon to defend herself. She only has two bullets left in her XF9 to defend herself. Another pack of her magazines lay peacefully in her bag. At this moment, she kind of regretted Akihiko's decision to do the monitoring today, with only one bodyguard following him like usual.

- [_Flashback_] -

Haru woke up abruptly as her alarm rang to its fullest. In a second, her brain listed today's activities and the first thing she realized was… she was going to be late! After fast brushing and dressing up, she hurriedly putting the papers on her desk to her bag before ran out of her apartment and stopped any taxi she saw first. She didn't care even though the cost from her place to her office was expensive. She needed to arrive as fast as possible before her devilish superior appeared with his angelic smile in the office. Thankfully, she arrived on time. Even Leila gave her two thumbs up for her punctuality. Not long after, Akihiko came with Maeda trailing behind him and fifteen minutes later, Haru already seated beside Akihiko in his car.

The trip to the project site went smoothly, as Haru busied herself with her journal and Akihiko sleeping like usual. Yes, since last week, this man right here always slept through any trip it made her wonder what did he do at night to make him tired like this? Of course, the moment they reached the destination, he woke up and changed to usual Toudou Akihiko.

"Did my father say something strange?" he asked suddenly Haru almost jumped from her seat.

Slightly confused, she recalled her last meeting with his father. "No, he didn't, Akihiko-san," she said while put her journal inside her bag. "We're just talking about usual things."

He thought for a while before closing his eyes again, "Don't let it affect your work."

The next second, the back window started to crack followed by chain of bulletshots. He immediately grabbed Haru and both of them lie on the car's floor while the next shoots came. The car shook and went uncontrollable as their driver shouted that one of their back tires had been shot. Akihiko was about to give an order when he heard Haru's scream and he saw a knife went through the driver's head from outside. A person rode a motorbike and he readied to throw another knife. His bodyguard who sat beside the driver shot the rider down and took over the wheel after kicking out the dead body, while Akihiko hugged Haru and calming the hysteric woman.

"It's going to be okay, Haru. Don't be afraid," he said the sentence repeatedly in her ears, as if soothing her from her shock.

And it worked. Knowing she already calmed, Akihiko took his gun from the car's compartment and shot at their chasers from the broken window. The chase and the shoot went on until the last back tire blown away from another shot. The bodyguard lost control of the car and they had to jump out of the car before it landed on the road wall. They split up with the bodyguard acted as decoy and Haru had to bring Akihiko to safe place.

Not wasting time, the couple ran to the nearest building. Unfortunately for them, it was new building so that no one inside to be asked for help. When they wanted to get out of the building Haru saw three people coming at their way. She grabbed Akihiko's hand and they ran to the stairs to get to the floors above. They kept running until Akihiko fell down. At that time, Haru saw the big gash in his left thigh. Apparently, he got it because he protected her when they jumped out of the car.

"Why are you not telling me!" she said almost frustrate with their condition, while helping Akihiko to enter the nearest room.

"I don't want you to look down on me because this little injury," he said while smiling.

"Wha- I never look down on you whatever you do, Akihiko-san!" Haru almost screamed and almost wanted to hit his head for having that ridiculous thought. Taking off her grey blazer, she wrapped his thigh to prevent the blood flow. After that she called Maeda, then took the gun in her bag and loaded it, before prepared to another running. Akihiko refused to stay at first and he wanted to follow her until she silenced him with a gun in his head, "That is my favorite blazer. You better change it with a new one. Now stay here and be a good boy until Maeda-san picks you up." She stopped for moment, "Besides, it's my job to protect my boss."

He stared at her as Haru left the room. He stifled a laugh as her words repeated in his mind. "Stupid woman."

Haru ran to the rooftop since it was the only place big enough to buy her some time and spaces until backup came. She hid behind the water tower and planning any strategies to support her actions. Not long after, they came out of the door. Time to recite her training, she thought and smiled.

- [_End of Flashback_] -

She remained unhurt so far after taking down two people. The last person, who now shouting curses, was really lucky to be able to avoid her shots before. Of course, her headache since morning also gave him advantage. Damn, why did she have to forget drinking her medicine this morning? Oh yeah, she woke up late. After steadying her breath and calculating the steps of the man, Haru prepared herself for another shoot-and-run session. Peeking from her position, she ran to the man and aimed her gun. Just when she was about to pull the trigger, she lost her sight for a moment and she almost being shot if only she didn't jump and roll over to her side. Because of that, she lost one bullet as it was hitting his gun. She quickly regained her posture and footing then aimed for another shot. It successfully landed on his chest and he fell down.

Haru fell to her knees. She wanted to stand up but her legs were too weak to support her body. That was when that man suddenly moved again and grabbed his weapon. He slowly stood and aimed the woman. He shot at her, only to found out he ran out of bullets. Taking out a knife from his pocket, he walked towards Haru. Panicked, Haru pushed her body and tried to think of any ways to save herself. She knew she couldn't win in this situation, but she still needed to think of something. She suddenly remembered an event similar to this. It happened in her mission with Hibari in Hongkong. Too bad for her, he wasn't here to save her. When she finally able to sit down, that man ran to her with knife aimed at her head. She closed her eyes and readied herself for the pain, but it never came. In fact, she heard a painful scream from her attacker. She opened her eyes and saw the man lay on the floor, holding his bloody leg and arm. She looked up to the door. There, she saw Akihiko leaned on the doorframe, his gun aimed forward. He fell down again and Haru had to half drag her legs to his place.

"Akihiko-san! I told you not to move too much, right!" Haru said almost feel like hitting the guy before her. "Now look at your wound! It is worse than before!"

He smirked and lay on her lap. "It's my job to protect my worker and I've promised to take care of you. Besides, what kind of man I am being protected by a woman. Now, let me sleep a little, okay?"

Not long after, as he drifted to sleep, Maeda and his men appeared in front of the couple.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Don't worry, Miura-san. I'll handle these papers, so now you can go home and take your rest," the man smiled to Haru. "I know you need it more than Toudou-san."

She was a bit reluctant, but the idea of leaving the office faster than usual was really tempting. Besides, she couldn't reject the words of the man before her, for he always helped her in doing her tasks for Akihiko. With a smile, she bowed to him. "Thank you so much, Maeda-san."

Haru left the building, feeling much better after taking a short nap in the trip to the hospital. She had also taken her medicine so her headache was gone. She hummed happily while waiting for her bus to come, only to hear the loud growl from her stomach. People around her looked at her strangely, some chuckled. Embarrassed by the situation, she moved to the corner of the bus stop and prayed that her bus arrived quickly. It was still three in the afternoon, but she wanted to go home and ate as much as she wanted, remembering she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. As if on cue, her stomach growled again. Great.

"That's a good music," a man said from her side followed by a small laugh.

"It's not-," Haru stopped as she saw the man. "You!"

He smiled and waved his hand, "Hi."

Feeling more embarrassed than before, Haru waved back. "Hi, too. Urm… sorry about these voices."

He smiled again, "Don't mind it. I've heard worse than yours. Hey, do you have time now?" She nodded unsurely. "Great! Let's eat something, shall we?"

Haru didn't grasp the invitation until he grabbed her hand and several moments later, they arrived in a sushi shop located not far from Central Station. She glanced around the place, and somehow felt nostalgic. It was a different place, but the atmosphere brought back the old memories of her times with her friends. She used to spend her times with Tsuna and the others in Yamamoto's restaurant. Yamamoto's father would serve a big batch of sushi with various toppings, feeding the hungry teenagers after they played around all day. The boys would end up asking for another round and the old man would grin widely and told them to wait. It was a happy time for them. Well, life went on and everyone had their own activities. Though, it would be good if they could spend time together again, just like the old days.

"It's really nice," Haru said when the man asked her opinion about the place. "But, please don't tell me you use this place to hit on girl."

He laughed again. "Not really, just some friends. Oh yeah, are you okay?" She raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't mean anything. It's just that, looking at your clothes, it seems like you've been a brawl or something."

She laughed sheepishly, "It's nothing. I've got small accident in my office. I'm quite clumsy so it always happens. Thankfully, my coworkers help me a lot so I'm not disgracing my boss' name. "

"Huh? What do you mean disgracing? You have different superior with the other staff?"

"Well, my CEO wants to expand his business so he sends me here as his representative to his business partner. You can say I'm a temporary staff."

"Wow, it must be tough working alone in a foreign place with such burden," he said. Not really, Haru thought. "I hope your job goes well."

"Thank you. What about you? Judging from your place last time, I guess it has something to do with medicine?"

"Close enough. I'm a scientist and also medic student. It's a boring job, but at least they let me to do any research I want to improve my skills. You remember the medicine I gave you that night? It's one of my creations."

"Woah, that's really great!" Haru was sparkling from meeting another person with similar occupation to her brother. "And I think it's not a boring job at all if you enjoy what you do."

He smiled warmly, "It feels strange actually."

"What's strange?" she asked a little confused.

"You know a say, first time meeting is incidental, second time is a miracle, and third time… is a fate. Maybe our meeting has been arranged by the fate," he answered and they laughed together at the cheesiness. "Oh I forgot. I never get to know your name, Miss…"

She giggled at the question as she did the same as him. "My name's Miura Haru. You can call me Haru since most of my friends called me that. What's yours?"

"Okay, Haru-san then. My name's Masayuki Jirou, but you can call me Jirou."

Haru couldn't describe what kind of emotion she felt, the moment she heard his name. Indeed, fate has arranged their meeting. And she knew that same fate was laughing at her right now.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The clock struck at seven when Haru arrived in front of her door. Too many things happened today and she just wanted to sleep until morning then go to work like usual, despite everything happened the day before. She knew Akihiko would nag her for not doing her works, if she didn't show up, whether in his office, his house, or anywhere in front of him. One day, she came up late and he ordered Maeda to drag her to his office. Humiliating, yes, irritating, definitely. Why did men always like that? Hibari also did the same like him. The only difference was Hibari was the one dragging her. Ignoring her luck with men, Haru entered the dark place while her hand searched for the lamp switch. When she turned it on,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARU-SAMA!"

Haru was surprised, taken a back and almost fell down if only she didn't lean on the wall behind her. In front of her, ten people gathered and all of them sang a birthday song. But whose- wait a minute. Today was her birthday! Due to massive files and reports she had to finish since last week, she completely forgot her special day. She looked around the room. Her once dull living room, now decorated with colorful ribbons, balloons, and a big banner written 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUR DEAREST MOTHER!' with her illustrative picture (which she believed drawn by Riku and handmade by Mana) besides the sentence. A birthday song could be heard from her audio player, though it was covered with their singing. She could see various foods and bottles of drinks on her coffee table and dining table, and she didn't want to wonder how they could bring all of those from Tokyo to Sapporo.

"Come, Haru," Fujiwara reached out his hand to the speechless woman. He led her to the middle of the room, where Misao held the birthday cake and the others surrounding them. "Make your wish, then."

As the other encouraged her to blow the candles, Haru closed her eyes and made her wish. It was a simple wish, she hoped for everyone's happiness. At that moment, Hibari appeared in her mind. Why? She didn't know. It might be because she wanted his happiness the most. After she blew the candles, everyone clapped together. Mana and Riku hugged her immediately, but Seiran and Jun dragged them away. Yuhgo gave her knife to cut down the cake. The first slice was given to Fujiwara, while the second one was given to Yuhgo, which earned him whistles from both Riku and Jun. Misao took over and she cut the rest of the cake for the others.

"Hey, who's keeping watch of Velvet if all of you came here?" Haru asked worriedly. "We can't increase our income if-"

Yuhgo flicked her forehead. "You don't have to think of such matter. It's all been taken care of, and you just need to enjoy this party, okay?"

"If you say so…" Haru said then approached Riku and Seiran whom busy opening her gifts. Like a child, the quartet (Misao and Mana joined later on) opened each gift and Haru commented it, down to the last gift from Fujiwara, a small ring which turned out to be the missing part of her broken music box from her parents. When she put it on its place, a soft melody started to play. She hugged her brother tightly and repeatedly thanking him. "Thank you, Aniki. I never thought I could hear this song again after all these year."

The party continued to game competition, something which gladly did by Misao and Riku. The game went wild as the other cheered for them, some adding provocative words and some giving suggestion to give punishment for the loser. Haru, whom sat on the couch between Fujiwara and Yuhgo, laughed freely until she felt her cheeks were too sore to laugh again.

"Oda-san, how's the preparation of your wife's ceremony?" she asked when Oda came out of the kitchen.

"My children finished the last stage this afternoon, so they told me to go and give their regards to you," he answered and gave her a glass of warm chocolate, before sitting beside Yuhgo.

"That's good," she replied while receiving the glass. "You know, I totally forgot that today is my birthday. I think I worked too much. Nonetheless, I'm really happy all of you are here with me. If… if only Daichi were here with us."

Fujiwara ruffled her hair, "As long as you're happy, I'm sure he'll be happy, too, Haru."

Haru nodded then went to her bedroom, as Mana and Mai wanted her to try out her new clothes. Oda smiled to Yuhgo as he patted the back of the younger man slowly, knowing Haru's word earlier really affected the black-haired man.

In her bedroom, Mai helped Haru tried each outfits Mana threw over, while the youngest girl scolding Haru for the torn and dirty clothes, like the one today. When they were in the middle of the discussion of the set, Fujiwara knocked on the door. Reading his aura, Mai took Mana out and let the two talking. Fujiwara approached the woman and sat on the edge of her bed.

"It's unlikely of you to talk about him today," he said with a hint of worry in his tone.

"I just mentioned his name, nothing else," she replied and walked around the room with the red stiletto Mana gave her earlier. "Aniki, I found him." Their eyes met. "I found Masayuki Jirou."

A long silence. "Are you… sure?" he asked and Haru gave him a blue folder from her bookshelves. Inside it was papers, pictures, memos, and everything related to their subject. "But, you could be wrong, right?"

"I've been tracking him for long time, who've guessed he's here? The first time I met him, I knew I felt familiar with his face. Who've guessed he actually was 'that person'? Despite all that, I'm still hoping… that they are different people."

He put the file on the desk and walked to the door. "I… won't stop you, Haru. But remember, you have to be careful."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"_So, Kusakabe, is she the one responsible for Hibird's death?"_

_Kusakabe panicked and paled. "Hi-Hibari-san, she is-"_

"_YES OR NO!"_

_A short silence. Bracing herself, Haru stood up. "Yes."_

_Hibari sent a death glare to the woman. "You'll pay for this."_

-x-

Haru opened her eyes slowly. Another dream of the past. Sighing, she sat up and looked to her side. Mana still slept and she grinned, causing Haru to smile. It looked like she had a good dream. After fixing the blanket of the girl, Haru checked her phone. No message, no missed call. Well, what could she expect at this hour? Putting the phone back to the table, Haru got up and went out the bedroom. She stopped at the living room and approached Riku whom slept on the long couch. After taking the book from his hand and fixing his blanket, she read a small note lay on the table beside him.

-Dear Hime, your beloved brother is off to Tokyo with Hajime-san. Call me if you miss me, 'kay?-

Haru chuckled and went to the kitchen. Taking out her favorite mug, she started to make coffee.

"Make me one, too," a voice came from behind.

Haru turned around and saw Yuhgo walked towards a dining chair while rubbing his eyes. She took out another mug from the cabinet and prepared the coffee for him. "I thought you already sleep."

"Nah, just went to bathroom. Besides," he yawned, "If I sleep, who will do last month's report? Knowing your schedule, you won't be able to finish it on time."

Haru crossed her arms. "It's not like it's my wish to have schedule like that. Don't forget, you're the one suggesting him to 'use me anyway you want'."

"But you do enjoy it," Yuhgo laughed when seeing her frown. He then leaned on the chair and observed her movement, from turning off the stove and pouring the hot water, to stirring the black liquid in each mug.

"You can talk now since everyone's sleeping," Haru said, aware of his eyes on her back. She took the mugs and handed one to the man. The upward curl on his lips turned to a straight line while he received the drink.

"So, this person really is the one you've been searching for, Haru?" he asked and she nodded. "You can be wrong if you're in a hurry."

The words slightly irritated the woman. "Aniki said the same." She sat on the chair facing Yuhgo. "I know what I'm looking for and I have valid evidences regarding this matter of Masayuki Jirou. I can't and won't be wrong."

He stared at her while his hand playing with his glass. "Fine. Let's say this Jirou is really 'that person'. What will you do next? You've found him, right?"

"Simple. I'll use him to our benefit. We can use his medical and pharmaceutical knowledge to help us in dealing with difficult customer, or maybe we can create a new drug and make some money from it. I also need his formula for Aniki. Of course, the main reason is I need him to solve an unfinished problem. And~ in order to do that, I have to get his heart first."

"You're crazy."

Haru glanced at him. "Why?"

"Our mission for Velvet and your mission for Vongola aren't finished and yet you want to add another problem to our hands? What are you thinking? What if everything go wrong because you take unnecessary thing like this?"

She stared at him. "You're overreacting. Everything will end up well, and it'll be better if we could end it together at the same time. Besides, how can I stay quiet when the source of my problem is right in front of me?"

"Problem? What do- Oh…I see. So, you're still not giving up about that," he tightened his grip on the mug. "Why don't you just forget it, Haru? I'm sure that person already forgot."

"NO! I'll never forget even though he does. And I won't stop until this problem's finished entirely." Haru stood up from her chair and put the empty glass on the sink. "If I have to kill Masayuki to end it, I'd be glad to do that. That's the only way to repay his kindness."

Suddenly, Yuhgo grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. "Don't be hasty! We'll finish the problem, but not right now! We can do it another time!"

"WHAT TIME!" she almost screamed. She could feel tears threatened to fall from the corner of her eyes. "YOU KNOW I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT, YUHGO! I… don't have it…"

Haru released herself from him and left, only stopped when she heard him say, "Why are you only thinking about him, Haru?"

She ran to her bedroom and slumped beside her bed, sinking her face in between her knees. She tried hard not to cry because she didn't want to awaken Mana. Yuhgo's words replayed in her mind. Was it wrong if she wanted to do what her heart told her to do? Was it wrong if she wanted to save the person she held dear in her life? Was it wrong if she wanted to be selfish about it? She kept thinking until she finally calmed. Then, her phone rang. She stared at it in disbelief. It rang, not with the usual ringtone, but with a special one she had set only for that person. She took the phone and slowly read the name on the small screen.

A smile crept up her face as she answered the call. "Hello."

"Happy birthday."

She let out a small laugh while wiping her last tears. "I thought you wouldn't call."

* * *

A/n: It's been a really long time…


End file.
